4 ms·

A screen for Down's syndrome is routinely done at the end of the first trimester/start of the second trimester.

• GordonS 4y ago
  This is true, but that test is inaccurate, and only provides odds of having a baby with Down's, for example "you have a 3500:1 chance of having a baby with Down's Syndrome".
  • cfu28 4y ago
    Right, but a positive screen is usually followed up with a more specific test (karyotype, cvs, amniocentesis) which can give a definitive diagnosis. Also the screen has a sensitivity of 95% with a positive test indicating > 1/300 chance in Down’s syndrome, so the screening is not nearly THAT bad
    • GordonS 4y ago
      > Right, but a positive screen is usually followed up with a more specific test (karyotype, cvs, amniocentesis) which can give a definitive diagnosis. I was thinking more of false negatives than positives, but reading it back, there was no way for you to know that from what I wrote! The test for our daughter came back negative (well, something like 3,000,000:1 chance of Down's), but she did actually have Down's. Later, talking with other parents of kids with Down's, multiple had had similar odds, some even crazier (and in a small country with <50k births each year).