iVillage logo
Search iVillage
Pregnancy
Parenting
Health
Food & Drink
Diet & Fitness
Beauty & Fashion
Relationships
Home & Garden
Work & Money
Entertainment
Horoscopes
Travel
Brilliant blazers
This season's must-have jackets
'I'm actually very shy'
Posh puts the record straight
Olympic countdown
Are you ready for Beijing 2008?
Pregnancy & Baby 
  |  Pregnancy  |  Tests  |  Why should I go for an amnio?
Advertisement
Topics
Childcare
Baby
Fertility
Pregnancy
Diaries
Twins
Feeding
Tests
Nutrition and fitness
1st Trimester
2nd Trimester
3rd Trimester
Financial/benefits
Complications
Concerns
Labour/delivery
Newborn
Loss
Community
Just For Mums
Toddler
Pregnancy galleries
Parenting
pregnancy videos
iVillage shopping

Hot stuff
Vote for a good cause
Olympics 2008
Baby Mama the movie
Baby development tracker
Special offers
Competitions
Pregnancy calendar
Find your fertile days
Bond with your baby
Shop for your baby
Newsletters
sign up for FREE!




 
Promotions
Is there a link?
Deodorants and breast cancer investigated

Why should I go for an amnio?

by Christine Hill

question
I am 35 years old and pregnant with my first child. I have been told by my health care provider that there is no real point to me having initial blood tests to determine Downs syndrome as my age will ensure that the results come back in the high risk category anyway, and if I want to be tested, I may as well go straight for an amniocentesis. Is this correct? I ask because I work with a woman of 38, who has just given birth to her first child, and she only had the blood tests, which came back within the expected range. How is this possible, unless she lied about her age? I don't want to take risks that I don't have to.

answer
It's difficult when different health care providers have different policies, but it is quite normal for some hospitals to routinely offer an amniocentesis to all women over the age of 35.

The facts are as follows: if a mother is aged 30, the chance of her carrying a baby with Down's syndrome is 1:910, and if a mother is aged 35, the risk increases to 1:380. (Still pretty small - 379 women out of 380 will not be carrying a baby with Down's syndrome.) If a mother is aged 40, it is 1:110 and at 45, it is 1:30.

The blood test is only a risk assessment test, and therefore won't tell anything for definite. If it shows that your risk of being pregnant with a baby with Down's syndrome is less than 1:250, the result is described as screen negative. A risk of more than 1:250 is described as screen positive.

iVillage TV - Pregnancy experts

View video in larger player
Delicious     Digg     reddit     Facebook     StumbleUpon