Downs syndrome and its screening: how aware are we?

Abstract

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal abnormality found in live-born babies. The objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of pregnant women regarding Down syndrome and its screening. Methods: This was a prospective study done in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in a tertiary care hospital. All pregnant ladies who attended the antenatal clinic and consented for the study were included. A prevalidated questionnaire was given to these women and data was collected. Responses to pregnant women's knowledge, attitudes and practices were evaluated in a three-point scale of yes/no/ don't know. All correct answers or all but one correct answer was scored good and the percentage was calculated. Results: A total of 267 pregnant women were included in the study. Of the 267 women only 156 (58.4%) had heard about Down syndrome. Eighty five percent of the women unanimously agreed that Down syndrome babies had mental impairment. But only 21.1% patients had good knowledge score on Down syndrome. Eleven percent had good knowledge regarding Down syndrome screening tests. Almost sixty five percent of the women had the right attitude towards screening tests and 46.1% patients had followed good practice. Conclusions: Informed decision making rather than imposed decision making must be practiced. Compulsory and effective education regarding Down syndrome and its screening must be provided to all patients at the earliest antenatal visit. The gap between women's knowledge, theirs attitudes and practice has to be addressed to. Noninvasive prenatal testing might be the future and is quickly bring about a shift in the paradigm in prenatal screening.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of down syndrome screening among pregnant women attending clinic in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

“…In this study age group of less than 35 years formed the largest with 75.11 % of them belonging to this age group, this is similar to other study done by Nambiar et al 9 Though the incidence of DS is higher in elderly women (>35 years), 80% of the Down syndrome children are born to woman under 35 years age. 9 Majority of women were highly educated (70%) and this was significantly correlated to their knowledge about down syndrome and screening tests similar to another study done by Yousef et al, and Melania et al 10,11 There was no significant correlation between knowledge and different nationalities and previous history of abortions. There was no association between the knowledge and other demographics like parity and age of participants similar to other studies.…”

“…About 42% agreed to undergo screening tests. 41.37% participants would agree for screening tests with previous family history or previous baby affected with Down syndrome while in study done by Nambiar et al 9 It was 83.3% and 84.6% respectively. 43% showed interest in doing NIPT if screening test would become positive.…”

“…Most responders agreed to undergo first trimester (84%) or second trimester (80%) screening in a future pregnancy in study done by Amina et al 17 Most pregnant women (77.6%) had a positive attitude to Down syndrome screening in study done by Pruksanusak et al 18 78.9% and 64.7% had a positive attitude for screening tests in study done by Melania et al, and Nambiar et al, respectively. 9,11 Although 42.85% of the women were interested in DS screening and 23.04% were having good knowledge, only 14.75% had gone for screening tests. This is comparable to other studies.…”

“…16 Nambiar et al, found that 64.7% of the women had right attitude towards screening tests and 46.1% patients had undergone the test. 9 Out of 217 pregnant women, 126 denied for Down syndrome screening test. Majority gave the reason that it is expensive test (43.65%).…”

Down syndrome and its screening: knowledge, attitude and practice among pregnant women in Patan Hospital

“…Down syndrome (DS) is the most common cause of intellectual disability among live born children with an incidence of 1:700-800 livebirths. 1 It is a genetic condition caused by the presence of all or a part of an extra copy of chromosome 21. The 2011 national census 2 reported 1.9% and the national living standard survey 3 2010-2011 estimated 3.6% of the population living with this disability.…”