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Ethnic differences in the outcome of serum screening for Down's syndrome

^a Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Oldham NHS Trust, Oldham OL1 2PN, ^b Medical Care Research Unit, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2RX, ^c Department of Clinical Pathology, Oldham NHS Trust, ^d Regional Cytogenetics Department, St Mary's Hospital, Manchester M13 0JH

Correspondence to: Mrs L Gilbert, Women's Hospital, Doncaster Royal Infirmary, Doncaster DN2 5LT.

Serum screening for Down's syndrome was introduced in Oldham health district in January 1991 to reduce the false positive rate associated with screening based on age alone and to improve the detection rate.¹ A retrospective analysis was undertaken to evaluate whether these objectives were achieved throughout the entire obstetric population in Oldham.

Subjects, methods, and results

All women booked at the Royal Oldham Hospital and the community clinic before 18 weeks' gestation are counselled and offered serum screening by the booking midwife, who also records their ethnic origin. The gestation is confirmed by an ultrasound scan. (alpha) Fetoprotein and intact human chorionic gondatrophin values are measured by enzyme immunoassay. The risk for Down's syndrome is calculated from the . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Dormandy, E., Michie, S., Hooper, R., Marteau, T. M (2005). Low uptake of prenatal screening for Down syndrome in minority ethnic groups and socially deprived groups: a reflection of women's attitudes or a failure to facilitate informed choices?. Int J Epidemiol 34: 346-352 [Abstract] [Full text]  
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