March 05, 2010
Innermost Secrets have launched an Ovarian Symptom Diary to help women who are concerned about the risk of ovarian cancer being able to spot the early symptoms that may indicate ...
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November 16, 2009
A NATIONAL network has been launched to help make sure women don't miss out on having babies because they are leaving it too late.
The UK Body Clock Network are ...
November 12, 2009
Various tests have been developed to try to identify those women at greatest risk of having a chromosomally abnormal baby such as Down's Syndrome, who could then decide whether or not to proceed to amniocentesis. The TripleTest or Barts Test at about 15 weeks into the pregnancy detects about 65% of Down's Syndrome pregnancies based on about 1 in every 20 (5%) women having the blood test ending up with a high risk result (i.e more than 1 in 250) and then proceeding to amniocentesis. This means it misses 1 Downs Baby for every 2 it picks up!
The test is less efficient in younger women with a detection rate of only about 30% and in women over 35 there is a high likelihood that testing will place them in a high risk category warranting amniocentesis. This means unecessary amniocentesis procedures and miscarriages which could have been avoided. This has been highlighted in a recent article in the Guardain.
The blood test is not done until 15 weeks and therefore decisions about amniocentesis are made at 16 weeks with final results and decisions about the pregnancy made at 18 weeks. At this late stage the woman can feel the baby's movements and the pregnancy is almost half way through. If termination is considered for an abnormal result it is usually by a medically induced birth, which may mean up to 2 to 3 days in hospital.
The test is not valid for women with multiple pregnancy and cannot be relied upon in women who have had a previous baby with a chromosomal abnormality such as the common type of Down’s Syndrome (Trisomy 21).
If all is well then the woman will have had to wait until nearly 18 weeks into the pregnancy to have the reassurance that the baby does not have Down’s Syndrome if her blood test shows a high risk result.
The risk of DOwn Syndrome increases with advancing maternal age but about half of babies with Down Syndrome are in mothers under 35 years old and therefore ALL women should consider having a screening test.
Maternal Age Risk of Down Syndrome
Maternal Age at term
Risk of Down Syndrome
20
1:1450
21
22
23
1:1400
24
25
1:1350
26
1:1300
27
1:1200
28
1:1150
29
1:1050
30
1:940
31
1:820
32
1:700
33
1:570
34
1:460
35
1:350
36
1:270
37
1:200
38
1:150
39
1:110
40
1:85
41
1:70
42
1:55
43
1:45
44
1:40
45
1:35
46
1:30
47
48
49
50
Testing for Down Syndrome Click to download
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