Is it a big deal if you are at high risk at age?

Nowadays, with the rapid development of medical technology, in many cases we can learn more about the health of children before having a baby. When going to the hospital for Down syndrome screening, we are told that our age is high-risk. Many people don’t know what’s going on. So what does it mean that the age is high-risk for Down syndrome screening?

What is the high-risk age for Down syndrome screening?

Down syndrome screening is a test method that extracts blood cells from pregnant women, tests the concentration of alpha-fetoprotein and human gonadotropin in the mother's blood cells, and calculates the risk of having a child with Down syndrome based on the pregnant woman's due date, age, weight and weeks of gestation when the blood is drawn.

The critical point is 1/250-380. Due to different methodologies, the standard value may be different. Above is high risk and below is low risk. The probability of suffering from Down syndrome under the age of 35 in the general population is 1/750. According to the examination time, it is divided into early pregnancy 9-13 weeks and mid-pregnancy 14-21 weeks.

Children with Down syndrome have severe intellectual disabilities, cannot be independent in daily life, and suffer from complex cardiovascular diseases. They need long-term care from their family members, which will cause huge mental and financial burden on the family.

If a pregnant woman is over 35 years old, she is called an older pregnant woman, so her age is high risk. Trisomy 18 and trisomy 21 are low risk, which means the possibility of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome is small. There is no need for amniocentesis and fetal chromosome testing. Regular prenatal checkups are sufficient.

Is it necessary to do Down syndrome screening?

Down syndrome screening is a survey work currently carried out on all pregnant women in my country to prevent the birth of children with congenital mental retardation. The meaning of "Down's" is what we often call "Down syndrome". "Congenital idiocy" is also called "Trisomy 21 syndrome", which is a chromosomal disease. Normal people have only a pair of chromosome 21 (two), while the chromosome 21 of trisomy 21 children becomes three, which causes the fetus to have severe multiple developmental malformations (unusual appearance, congenital heart disease, abnormal function of major internal organs and physical abnormalities), accompanied by severe intellectual disabilities. The baby is basically unable to be independent in daily life, and most patients die before the age of 18. Therefore, prenatal diagnosis and confirmation are very important.

The occurrence of this disease has been on the rise in recent years, which may be related to air pollution. The birth of children with this disease often brings great mental and financial burdens to the families. In order to prevent the birth of children with congenital idiocy and ensure early detection and early treatment, screening of pregnant women at 16-19 weeks of gestation has been started in recent years.

In fact, screening for Down syndrome is a minimally invasive test that requires little economic effort, namely B-ultrasound and mid-pregnancy serological screening. Expectant mothers do not need to worry too much about the economic pressure caused by the test. Based on applied statistical calculations, screening results are divided into high risk or low risk. When the risk value exceeds 1/380 (the risk value of some examination methods exceeds 1/280), it is a high risk, because women over 35 years old are considered older pregnant women, and the average risk of a 35-year-old pregnant woman giving birth to a baby with congenital idiocy is about 1/380, so the risk cut-off value is set to 1/380; if it is higher than this value, it is a high risk, otherwise it is a low risk. Only when the screening prompts a high risk is further prenatal examination recommended, namely "amniocentesis" to analyze the fetus's sex chromosomes and ultimately make a diagnosis of whether there is an abnormality. Amniocentesis is also a safe diagnosis method and there is no need to worry. But generally speaking, the decision-making power lies with the pregnant woman herself.

At present, all countries in the world adopt the same screening method. Due to the various tasks carried out in recent years, many births of deformities have been prevented, and the screening work has been very effective.

Down syndrome screening is necessary, so please future parents pay more attention to the test results in this area, and be responsible for your children and your family.