ABSTRACT

Hong Kong Med J 2013;19:101–8 | Number 2, April 2013
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Prospective assessment of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority universal Down syndrome screening programme
Daljit S Sahota, WC Leung, WP Chan, William WK To, Elizabeth T Lau, TY Leung
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong
 
 
OBJECTIVE. To evaluate the performance of the locally developed universal Down syndrome screening programme.
 
DESIGN. Population-based cohort study in the period July 2010 to June 2011 inclusive.
 
SETTING. Four Hong Kong Hospital Authority Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and a central university-based laboratory for maternal serum processing and risk determination.
 
PARTICIPANTS. Women were offered either a first-trimester combined test (nuchal translucency, free beta human chorionic gonadotropin, and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A) or nuchal-translucency-only test, or a second-trimester double test (alpha-fetoprotein and total human chorionic gonadotropin) for detection of Down syndrome according to their gestational age. Those with a trisomy 21 term risk of 1:250 or higher were offered a diagnostic test.
 
RESULTS. A total of 16 205 pregnancies were screened of which 13 331 (82.3%) had a first-trimester combined test, 125 (0.8%) had a nuchal-translucency test only, and 2749 (17.0%) had a second-trimester double test. There were 38 pregnancies affected by Down syndrome. The first-trimester screening tests had a 91.2% (31/34) detection rate with a screen-positive rate of 5.1% (690/13 456). The second-trimester test had a 100% (4/4) detection rate with a screen-positive rate of 6.3% (172/2749). There were seven (0.9%) pregnancies that miscarried following an invasive diagnostic test. There were two Down syndrome-affected live births, both with an estimated first-trimester trisomy 21 term risk lower than 1:250.
 
CONCLUSION. The universal screening programme offered at the four units was effective and achieved the expected detection rates and low false-positive rates, and to maintain these, the current emphasis on training, quality control, and regular auditing must continue.
 
Key words: Down syndrome; First trimester screening; Second trimester screening; Nuchal translucency; Quality control
 
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