Do pregnant women generally need to fast for Down syndrome screening?

Every pregnant woman will generally undergo Down syndrome screening. Down syndrome screening may sound unfamiliar, and you may not know what it specifically is. In fact, Down syndrome screening is an examination done during pregnancy. Through this examination, we can know the physical condition of the pregnant woman and the expected date of delivery. Generally speaking, the expected date of delivery is relatively accurate, but there may be some errors due to the diet and lifestyle habits of the pregnant woman.

Down syndrome screening is a detection method that extracts serum from pregnant women, tests the concentrations of alpha-fetoprotein, chorionic gonadotropin and free estriol in the maternal serum, and calculates the risk of giving birth to a fetus with congenital defects based on the pregnant woman's due date, weight, age and gestational age at the time of blood collection.

Down syndrome is also called trisomy 21, congenital idiocy. It means that the patient has one more chromosome in the 21st pair than the normal person (normal people have one pair). It is the most common chromosomal aneuploidy disease. Down syndrome screening is performed at a specific gestational week by testing the levels of PAPPA, AFP, HCG, uE3 and Inhibin A in the pregnant woman's serum, combined with clinical information such as the pregnant woman's age, gestational age, weight, smoking status, and insulin-dependent diabetes, and the risk value is calculated using risk assessment software.

Down syndrome screening test is the abbreviation of prenatal screening test for Down syndrome. The purpose is to comprehensively judge the risk of the fetus suffering from Down syndrome by testing the pregnant woman's blood and combining it with other clinical information. If the Down screening test results show that the fetus is at a higher risk of suffering from Down syndrome, further confirmatory tests should be carried out - amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.

Fasting is not required for Down syndrome screening, but it is best to do so. When doing Down syndrome screening, you can also consult the doctor about what you need to pay attention to, because everyone has different habits, and sometimes personal habits will affect the results of Down syndrome screening. In addition to Down syndrome screening, you should also insist on other prenatal examinations during pregnancy so that you can know the condition of yourself and your baby.