British researchers have found no evidence that serum and nuchal translucency screening improves antenatal detection rates for Down’s syndrome or reduces rates of invasive procedure.
New screening methods should be offered only as part of a controlled study until their benefit is proved, suggests Dr David Howe, consultant in Fetomaternal Medicine, and Dr Diana Wellesley, Associate Specialist in Clinical Genetics, Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton, England.
The researchers and colleagues at eight hospitals in the Southampton region identified all cases of Down’s syndrome between 1994 and 1999. Among the 155,501 infants who were delivered in this six year period, 335 cases of Down’s syndrome were identified during pregnancy or after delivery.
Seven different screening policies were used in three principal groups, depending on the hospital: serum screening offered to all mothers, maternal age with serum screening or nuchal translucency available to limited groups, and maternal age combined with anomaly scans.
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