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Offer amniocentesis to pregnant women of all ages
A study by Dr Kuppermann involving 534 women aged 16 to 47 years old, published in this Thursday's issue of the medical journal Lancet has suggested that amniocentesis should be offered to pregnant women of all ages, instead of just those above 35 years of age. Amniocentesis is a procedure which involved the obstetrician removing, through a needle, amniotic fluid and is one of a number of investigations that offers the ability to diagnose chromosomal defects in the fetus, including Down Syndrome. Obstetricians around the world have, till now, been reluctant to recommend amniocentesis to women under 35 because the potential risk of the technique, namely, miscarriage, has outweighed the potential advantage of the technique. Previous studies have shown that the older a woman, the greater her risk of having a genetically abnormal child. The risk of having a baby with Down Syndrome is approximately 1 in 200 for a 35 year old lady. This is similar to the statistical odds of a 35-year-old woman having a miscarriage following amniocentesis, which has been quoted at between 1 in 100 to 1 in 200 in various studies. A previous study published in 2000 in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology concluded that for most of the women surveyed, the anxiety about having a child with Down syndrome outweighed the fear of a miscarriage. In the new study, the researchers argue that the provision of such amniocentesis information to pregnant women of all ages is cost-effective and doctors should inform pregnant females of the availability of amniocentesis as a way of determining their babies' genetic risks, regardless of age. Search for : Amniocentesis |
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