Expectation and knowledge of women undergoing first‐trimester combined screening for Down syndrome in a Chinese population

Objectives To study the preference of pregnant women regarding the time taken to report the results of first‐trimester combined screening for Down syndrome and their knowledge about it. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted on a cohort of 325 pregnant participants who attended our first‐trimester combined nuchal translucency and biochemical screening programme for fetal Down syndrome. This service was operated in a one‐stop setting and the result of the screening test was available within 1 to 2 h after the collection of blood sample. Results The majority of participants: (1) could recall the quoted detection rate correctly (96.6%); (2) understood that a negative test does not exclude Down syndrome (91.1%); (3) understood that a positive test does not equate to an affected fetus (91.0%), and (4) could decide on the need for further invasive tests on the basis of the screening test results (98.1%). Twenty‐nine percent of participants considered that a one‐stop setting was very important because any delay in releasing the results made a significant difference to them, while 48.9% considered it acceptable if the results were available on the same day. The percentage dropped dramatically to 6.3% (within 2 days), 6.7% (within 3 days), 5.7% (within 1 week), and 3.1% (more than 1 week). Conclusion The majority of the pregnant women in our test considered same day reporting of screening test results to be no different from a one‐stop clinic. This would have important implications for the organisation and structuring of our service provision, since the operation of a one‐stop clinic imposes significant stresses on the clinical staff involved. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.