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300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 355-6000
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Pressroom:
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Press Room
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Tuesday, March 1, 2005
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For Further Information:
Mary-Ellen Shay
Children's Hospital Boston
617-355-6420
mary.shay@childrens.harvard.edu
John Lacey
Harvard Medical School
617-432-0442
public_affairs@hms.harvard.edu
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7 Specific Recommendations Offered
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A survey of mothers in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that obstetricians and genetic counselors are falling short when it comes to delivering a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome to pregnant women. Mothers who have children with Down syndrome, diagnosed prenatally, reported that doctors did not tell them about the positive potential of people with Down syndrome nor did they feel like they received enough up-to-date information or contact information for parent support groups. Further yet, the mothers report that all of these shortcomings are happening at an emotional time when women have to decide whether or not to continue their pregnancies. This study remains the largest and most comprehensive study on prenatally diagnosed Down syndrome to date.
One mother in the study reported that her genetic counselor ''showed a really pitiful video first of people with Down syndrome who were very low tone and lethargic-looking and then proceeded to tell us (in 1999) that our child would never be able to read, write, or count change.''
Brian Skotko, a student at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, carried out the study with support from the Tim White Fund at Children's Hospital Boston and a part-time research grant from HMS.
Skotko mailed an 11-page survey to nearly 3,000 members of five Down syndrome parent organizations in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. Of the 1,250 responses, approximately 140 were from mothers who had received a definitive prenatal diagnosis through amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.
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''Doctors continue to find it very challenging to deliver a diagnosis like Down syndrome to an otherwise happy expectant mom,'' says Skotko, who has a 24-year-old sister with Down syndrome and co-authored the award-winning book, Common Threads: Celebrating Life with Down Syndrome (Band of Angels Press). ''But the results of this study are conclusive: Delivering a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome does not have to be a gloomy affair. In fact, mothers in this study have now written the prescription on how best to explain the diagnosis in a loving manner.''
Based on the mothers' comments, Skotko offers a 7-point ''prescription'' for communicating a diagnosis of Down syndrome:
- Results from the prenatal screening should be clearly explained as a risk assessment, not as a ''positive'' or ''negative'' result.
- Results from the amniocentesis or CVS should, whenever possible, be delivered in person, with both parents present.
- Sensitive language should be used when delivering a diagnosis of Down syndrome.
- If obstetricians rely on genetic counselors or other specialists to explain Down syndrome, sensitive, accurate, and consistent messages must be conveyed.
- Physicians should discuss all reasons for prenatal diagnosis including reassurance, advance awareness before delivery of the diagnosis of Down syndrome, adoption, as well as pregnancy termination.
- Up-to-date information on Down syndrome should be available.
- Contact with local Down syndrome support groups should be offered, if desired.
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All pregnant women over the age of 35 are now offered prenatal testing for Down syndrome, and younger women are increasingly requesting such tests on their own. Typically, although not necessarily, mothers will begin with a prenatal screening test like the triple screen, quadruple screen, or the newest combination of two maternal serum markers and ultrasonographic findings. With a 5 percent false-positive rate, 69 percent of fetuses with Down syndrome are correctly detected with triple screening, 75 percent with quadruple screening, and 79 percent with the recent first-trimester screening involving 2 maternal serum protein markers and ultrasonographic findings. For a definitive prenatal diagnosis, mothers have one of two options: chorionic villus sampling (CVS), typically between the 10th - 12th weeks of pregnancy or amniocentesis, typically after the 15th week of pregnancy. Neither procedure, however, is without risk; both carry an approximately 0.35 percent to 0.30 percent additional chance of causing a spontaneous miscarriage.
To identify parents of children with Down syndrome who are willing to be interviewed about their experiences, contact the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress (617-308-8067; Suzanne Shea, President), National Down Syndrome Congress (1-800-232-NDSC; David Tolleson, Executive Director), or the National Down Syndrome Society (1-800-221-4602; Suzanne Elliott Armstrong, Director of Communications).
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CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON
Children's Hospital Boston is the nation's leading pediatric medical center, the largest provider of health care to Massachusetts' children, and the primary pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Children's provides pediatric and adolescent health services for patients from birth through age 21. In addition to 325 inpatient beds and comprehensive outpatient programs, it houses the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center. More than 500 scientists, including eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, nine members of the Institute of Medicine and 10 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Children's research community. For more information about the hospital visit: http://www.childrenshospital.org.
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
http://hms.harvard.edu
Harvard Medical School has more than 5,000 full-time faculty working in eight academic departments based at the School's Boston quadrangle or in one of 47 academic departments at 18 Harvard teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those Harvard hospitals and research institutions include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, The CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Forsyth Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, VA Boston Healthcare System.
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The information on this website should not be taken as medical advice,
which can only be given to you by your personal health care professional. |
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Copyright © Children's Hospital Boston. All rights reserved. |
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