95% of women in England not screened for sickle cell anaemia or thalassaemia by 10 week target

doi:10.1136/bmj.39503.586030.DB

BMJ 2008;336:468 (1 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39503.586030.DB

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95% of women in England not screened for sickle cell anaemia or thalassaemia by 10 week target

Susan Mayor

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Most women fail to receive antenatal screening for sickle cellanaemia or thalassaemia within the recommended time of 10 weeks,a study of general practice in England has found (British Journalof General Practice 2008;58:154-9). This indicates that screeningmay often occur too late to allow couples a choice regardingtermination of affected fetuses.

The study assessed antenatal screening for the two inheriteddisorders in all pregnancies reported in at least a six monthperiod in 25 general practices of two inner city primary caretrusts. They both had about 40% of their populations from minorityethnic groups and ranked among the most deprived in England.

Results from the 1441 pregnancies analysed showed that 95% ofwomen failed to receive screening by the target of 10 weeks.

The median delay was 6.9 (interquartile range 4.7-9.3) weeksbetween pregnancy being confirmed and screening for sickle cellanaemia and thalassaemia. The . . . [Full text of this article]

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