Offer and uptake of prenatal screening for Down syndrome in women from different social and ethnic backgrounds

Objective To compare offer and uptake of prenatal screening for Down syndrome in women from different social and ethnic backgrounds. Method A total of 4800 randomly selected women in England were sent a survey three months after they had given birth; 2960 women responded. Odds ratios (OR) for reported offer and uptake of screening comparing women by area deprivation and ethnicity were calculated. Results In all, 65% of women reported having screening; 89% reported being offered screening, and 69% of these reported taking up the offer. There was no evidence of a difference in the reported offer (adjusted OR = 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.65–1.19, p = 0.41) or uptake (adjusted OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.66–1.06, p = 0.15) of screening for women living in the most deprived areas compared with other women. Asian women were less likely to report being offered screening than White women (adjusted OR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.39–0.94, p = 0.02) and were less likely to take up screening when offered (adjusted OR = 0.48, 95% CI 0.33–0.72, p < 0.001). Conclusions While most pregnant women in England are offered prenatal screening for Down syndrome, approximately 1 in 10 is not. Asian women are less likely than White women to report being offered Down syndrome screening and are less likely to have a screening test when offered. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.