Down's Screening... a question

[Siuan]

Hi all,

We had our letter of results back from our Down's screening yesterday (this done pretty much as a matter of course where I live (Essex, UK). This was done at 12 week scan and included Nuchal fold, and bloods being taken.

The letter says we're at low risk of having a Down's baby @ a 1:225 chance.

The letter also states that the usual threshold where they would test further is 1:150.

Basically, I'm wondering if our result is a normal sort of result for most people? I remember my midwife saying something about 1:1500 being a possibility, so now I'm a bit concerned that our number is quite close in comparison to that 150 cut off... can anyone comment?

 

[Borboleta]

Hello,

I posted a thread about 2 days ago about this subject. My blood test came back ( I am 37) with a positive result for down baby. Before my test my age group percentage rate was 1 out of 133 chances of having a ds baby and now after the results I have a 1 out of 94 chances of ds baby. Did not want to do any invasive test but cannot stop thinking about it and I have my amnio test scheduled for Wednesday. I have heard of so many false positives with this blood test that it is not even funny! I really regret my choice to do the blood test. I should've just picked a detailed scan, or cvs or amnio and be done with it. Talk to your midwife and see what she says. You need piece of mind so go with whatever decision is going to help you enjoy your pregnancy. But I think your results looks good to me but I know ecxatly how are you feeling right now.

 

[SabrinaKat]

I'm 43 and my risk (for 44 delivery) was 1/27, but my NT and bloods raised it to 1/162; while the other went from 1/40 to 1/955 -- we decided not to do cvs based on the risk of 1/100 of m/c; and when we did our 16 wk scan, discussed with our ob/gyn about my fears of an m/c with an amnio; we decided not to do amnio as our rate for amnio was about 1/200 risk; we'll do the detailed 20 week scan in a couple of weeks, but we've had no worrying scans, bloods, etc., and are hopeful we made the right decision.

best wishes.

 

[Natalie1a]

To be honest I kinda wish they did not give the figures, I was happy enough with mine but someone at my work is due a little after me and her odds seemed massive compared to mine (in a good way for her) this made me panic as I know age is a factor but she is 10 years older than me so it made me think it must be something else making my risk higher. I spoke to my midwife who reassured me and said loads of things can effect the readings including if you get your bloods done at 11/12/13 weeks. She said not to worry if they were concerned even a little they would offer more testing. I know this us easier said than done tho, I think it's normal Nx

 

[kosh]

first of all, as you said, the cut off point is rather arbitrary so risk values around those numbers will always cause more incertitude.
one way to look at them, is to see whether your personal risk value brings up or down your age group risk value. but then again, you can end up worrying for nothing anyway (and i believe this is more relevant for 35+ women)
in my opinion the screening tests are far too vague, that's why i opted for a cvs instead. the reason why the give so many false high risk results is that they are optimised so that 'real' high risks do not go undetected.

anyway, yours is low risk, so you should not worry!

 

[Siuan]

Thanks all, I'm not overly worried, just more interested to be honest as to whether our result is average or not if you see what I mean?

I guess that since the midwife had mentioned the 1:1500 thing, I had it in my head that a number closer to that would be preferable! I'm sure it's all fine though

 

[_Lexi_]

I'm 23 and my result from the combined screening was 1 in 21, after getting those results I had a cvs the next day. Cvs has a 2 in 100 chance of mc. I got my results and they were all clear x

 

[Natali]

My downs screening said that Twin 1 has a 1:54000 chance and Twin 2 has a 1:46000 chance soo relative to me it seems pretty low ... BUT a family friend got results back of 1:14 which is really low compared to yours. I think it's just dependant on individual circumstances. I wouldn't say it's anything to worry about if your midwife said it's a low risk ... If you're worried about it, why don't you ask for a closer examination or ask for the NT to be done again maybe? Hope everything goes okay

 

[Caseys]

I got a 1 in 5 chance of Downs and my baby is fine, I also know someone who got really low risk and had their baby die upon birth from one of the other trisomies. You just never know, I have a feeling those tests are just guesses....

 

[Sarah27]

My DS screen came back 1:5, I had some very wonky blood test in this pg! DH and I are both 28 so were very shocked.. I know my first pg was 1:1000000 lots of 00s and my second pg it was 1:1000 which was low risk so didn't expect such a high risk two years later... I would say if you need piece of mind throughout your pg ask for a detailed scan at 16-18weeks... I opted to have an amino which came back clear, I had two failed attempts at cvs at 11 and 12 weeks..

We asked if the bloods would be different if they were re-done and we were told that yes they could be different but they always go off the first reading and first set of results that they obtain so they don't get a confusing result... x

 

[Sarah27]

Completely agree with Caseys above I think the it is a lot of guess work and I sometimes thing the NHS try to shoe horn people in to groups and catergories without taking into consideration that each and everyone of us is different! Grr makes me feel abit grumbley at times