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The influence of ethnic origin on first trimester biochemical markers of chromosomal abnormalities
Author(s) -
Spencer Kevin,
Ong Charas Y. T.,
Liao Adolfo W. J.,
Nicolaides Kypros H.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
prenatal diagnosis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.956
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1097-0223
pISSN - 0197-3851
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0223(200006)20:6<491::aid-pd844>3.0.co;2-3
Subject(s) - ethnic group , down syndrome , medicine , ethnic origin , first trimester , genetics , obstetrics , pregnancy , biology , pathology , fetus , anthropology , sociology
In a first trimester study of 5422 Caucasian women, 752 Afro‐Caribbean women and 170 Asian women we have shown that the median maternal serum marker MoMs for free β‐hCG and PAPP‐A were 19% and 48% higher in Afro‐Caribbean women and 19% higher and 35% higher in Asian women, compared to Caucasian women. Correcting for maternal weight made very little difference to the effect in Afro‐Caribbeans (21% and 57% higher after weight correction) but reduced the effect in Asians (4% and 17% higher after weight correction ). It is estimated that correcting for maternal weight and ethnicity overall would increase the detection rate by a modest 1.4%. However, the effect on an individual's risk could result in as much as a two‐fold increase in the patient specific risk for trisomy 21. The impact of ethnic origin seems to be greater than that observed with second trimester biochemical markers and larger studies are required in order to develop robust algorithms for correcting for ethnic origin in the first trimester. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.