Farrant first reported that false positive results were associated with higher levels of maternal anxiety.1 All subsequent studies of women who received false positive results, indicating an increased risk of DS or NTD, have confirmed this observation.2-9 Heightened anxiety was found to persist in screen positive patients even after their initial positive results were shown to be false.2 10 It is not surprising then that women with false positive results, as compared with those with true negative results, were more opposed to maternal serum screening, 11 12 and were less likely to say that they would choose maternal serum screening in a future pregnancy.11 13 However, whether this negative attitude translates into reduced screening participation in a future pregnancy has not yet been reported.The purpose of this study was to determine whether women who have had a positive serum screening result in one pregnancy have a lower rate of participation in screening in their next pregnancy than women who were screen negative in their previous pregnancy. We also examined whether it made a diVerence if women were screen positive for DS or NTD, or whether the degree of increased risk altered subsequent screening uptake. Finally, we asked if screen positive women who declined serum screening in their subsequent pregnancy chose other forms of prenatal testing instead, such as amniocentesis or ultrasound examination.
Patients and methodsAll women who underwent maternal serum triple marker screening at the Women and Infants Hospital (WIH) in 1994, and had a subsequent pregnancy at WIH before May 1998, were eligible for inclusion in this study. Women who were screen positive for trisomy 18, for both DS and NTD, because of previous history, and those who were carrying twins during their 1994 pregnancy were excluded.Our study population was identified using the 1994 comprehensive laboratory screening log book. Of the 9250 screens performed in
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.