title: The efficacy of maternal age screening for Down's syndrome in Wessex.
abstract: The uptake of amniocentesis in Wessex for the period 1986-1988 was 36 per cent (2873 of 8004 births), a proportion that has not altered significantly since 1984. There is a large difference in uptake between women in the lower risk age group, 35-36 years, and those in the higher risk group, 37+ years, and very considerable differences in uptake among different districts. The prenatal detection over the 3-year study period for women aged 35 or more, after correction for spontaneous loss of Down's syndrome fetuses between prenatal detection and birth, is 53 per cent, a figure that must be inflated due to our failure to ascertain all liveborn Down's syndrome patients.
authors.affiliation: Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory, General Hospital, Salisbury, U.K.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Youings
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gregson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jacobs
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000649:Amniocentesis; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006801:Humans; D008423:Maternal Age; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies