Local impact of 'Antenatal Screening for Down syndrome and other conditions' on diagnosis and outcomes in a fetal medicine centre in New Zealand

Aim In 2010, the National Screening Unit of the Ministry of Health launched 'Antenatal Screening for Down syndrome and other conditions'. Our aim was to assess the local impact of the new screening process on the number and outcomes of women attending a south island Fetal Medicine Centre. Methods Retrospective audit; two time periods (T1 and T2) were reviewed. Data was prospectively collected in a viewpoint database and combined with data from other hospital databases and laboratories. Outcome measures included invasive procedures done and results and MSS1 results. Statistical analysis was done using Open Epi software. Results 51% of women who were pregnant in T2 underwent MSS1 screening. There was a statistically significant decrease in the number of invasive procedures carried out 2.9% (175) vs. 4.1% (253), p0.0003 in T2. The proportion of procedures undertaken by Chorionic Villus Sampling and amniocentesis did not change. In both time periods no babies with Down syndrome were born following pregnancies where screening was undertaken and was low risk. Conclusions The implementation of the new antenatal screening process in Canterbury has so far proved to be successful in maintaining detection rates of genetic anomalies whilst decreasing the numbers of invasive diagnostic procedures being done.