What to do if a pregnant woman has a high risk of Down syndrome screening

After a woman becomes pregnant, she may need to undergo Down syndrome screening. Sometimes, the results of the Down syndrome screening are found to be high risk. Pregnant women may feel panicked at this time, but this is actually unnecessary. High risk just means that there is a risk, and it does not mean that the child born will definitely be a Down syndrome baby. Down syndrome screening is usually done through amniotic fluid cells, which is an amniocentesis test.

There are many cases where a fetus has a high-risk result but is not actually ill, because among all high-risk results, only 1/50 to 1/70 of the fetuses are actually ill.

Down syndrome screening mainly measures the AFP value, HCG value and other non-specific biochemical indicators in the pregnant woman's blood, and then compares them with the average of normal pregnant women during the same period. Combined with age, weight and other information, after probability analysis, it is determined what the probability of each fetus suffering from Down syndrome is. This is not a diagnostic method.

Therefore, a positive screening result strictly means a high-risk screening result, and a positive prenatal diagnosis means a real illness. According to industry standards for prenatal screening, approximately 5 out of every 100 pregnant women will receive high-risk screening results. Therefore, a positive screening result only narrows the scope of fetuses that may have Down syndrome in the population and reduces the scope of those who need amniocentesis for confirmatory examination.

At the same time, a negative screening result strictly means a low-risk screening result, which means that the possibility of the fetus suffering from Down syndrome is low, and no further confirmatory examination is needed for the time being. However, from the perspective of fetal medicine, it is still recommended that pregnant women undergo a detailed ultrasound examination at 20-26 weeks to rule out fetal malformations.

It should be noted that a fetus that is screened at high risk for Down syndrome is not at high risk of developing Down syndrome after birth, so pregnant women should not worry too much about the results of this test. It is best to go to the hospital to seek advice from a professional doctor. In fact, the incidence rate of Down syndrome is about one in seven hundred, and the probability of occurrence is relatively small.