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Survey of women's knowledge and understanding of antenatal anomaly screening and diagnosis

Aim To ascertain women's perception and knowledge of antenatal screening and diagnosis of fetal anomaly. Methods Prospective survey over a period of 4 weeks. Sample size 257. Results 87% women said they had previous knowledge of screening tests available during pregnancy, however over 56% confessed to limited knowledge and 26% said they ‘did not know much’. 83% found the verbal and written information ‘very useful’ but 5.4% felt it was ‘neither helpful nor unhelpful’. 89% women said the information helped them reach a decision about screening. Although 91% women correctly thought the uptake of the screening programme was voluntary, surprisingly 9% women thought these tests were mandatory. 39% women had desired to find out the risk of Down's syndrome at the start of pregnancy and 61% finally opted to have screening after counselling suggesting the discussion had influenced their decision. Although 61% women consented to have screening for down's syndrome, only 19% thought they would proceed with an invasive diagnostic test if found to be high risk with 28% women categorically refusing amniocentesis and 53% ‘unsure’. 57% women stated the risk of spontaneous abortion with amniocentesis correctly and only 15% with CVS. 55% women thought they would continue with a Down's syndrome pregnancy if found to have one, 42% were unsure and 3% would have opted not to continue. Conclusion Effective antenatal counselling is a key tool in ensuring informed consent for screening and diagnosis of fetal anomaly and NHS trusts need to have methods in place to ascertain this.