Prenat Diagn. 2008 Nov 27. [Epub ahead of print]
Offer and uptake of prenatal screening for Down syndrome in women from different
social and ethnic backgrounds.
Rowe R, Puddicombe D, Hockley C, Redshaw M.
National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, UK.
Objective:
To compare offer and uptake of prenatal screening for Down syndrome in women from different social and ethnic backgrounds. METHOD: A total of 4800 randomly selected women in England were sent a survey three months after they had given birth; 2960 women responded. Odds ratios (OR) for reported offer and uptake of screening comparing women by area deprivation and ethnicity were calculated.
Results:
In all, 65% of women reported having screening; 89% reported being offered screening, and 69% of these reported taking up the offer. There was no evidence of a difference in the reported offer (adjusted OR = 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.65-1.19, p = 0.41) or uptake (adjusted OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.66-1.06, p = 0.15) of screening for women living in the most deprived areas compared with other women. Asian women were less likely to report being offered screening than White women (adjusted OR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.39-0.94, p = 0.02) and were less likely to take up screening when offered (adjusted OR = 0.48, 95% CI 0.33-0.72, p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
While most pregnant women in
England are offered prenatal screening for Down syndrome, approximately 1 in 10
is not. Asian women are less likely than White women to report being offered
Down syndrome screening and are less likely to have a screening test when
offered.
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