Issues in Human GenEthics

Parent's attitude toward prenatal diagnosis and termination of pregnancy could be influenced by other factors rather than by the severity of the condition

“…The examples of parent's responses are not restricted to the Saudi society as other studies came to the same conclusion. [12][13][14] Additionally, we found in this study how parents perceive the condition depends on their individual experience. Hence, parents' views are specific to them and specific to that condition.…”

“…Hence, parents had similar and different views toward termination of the pregnancy according to their individual experience. The examples of parent's responses are not restricted to the Saudi society as other studies came to the same conclusion …”

“…A questionnaire seeking attitudes toward prenatal testing and TOP for 30 different conditions were self-completed or interviewer assisted as required. These conditions were as follows: (1) not preferred gender, (2) cleft lip and palate, (3) mild LD/mental health (MH), (4) coronary at 50 years, (5) Alzheimer's disease, (6) grossly overweight, (7) autism, (8) blindness, (9) deafness, (10) dwarfism, (11) moderate LD/MH, (12) cystic fibrosis, (13) fragile X syndrome, (14) Huntingdon's disease, (15) The questionnaire contained scenario descriptions of 30 conditions (see previous text) and asked two questions for each condition: whether participants would consider a prenatal test and whether participants would consider a termination for an affected pregnancy. The response options for each of the two questions were 'no', 'not sure', or 'yes'.…”

Health related quality of life in Malaysian children with thalassaemia

“…Children with thalassaemia appear well at birth but develop anaemia that becomes progressively worse due to the partial or total absence of haemoglobin. If left untreated, this can result in early deaths [ 2 , 6 ]. For those children that do survive, this condition has serious implications for the health related quality of life of children.…”

“…This means they have to attend the hospital which sometimes takes a whole day. They also have to get desferal injections for iron chelation therapy to remove excess iron in their blood from the blood transfusions [ 2 , 6 , 7 ].…”