Prenat Diagn. 2021 Jun 27. doi: 10.1002/pd.6003. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) affects livebirth (LB) prevalence of Down syndrome (DS) in the Netherlands.
METHOD: Data from clinical genetics laboratories and the Working Party on Prenatal Diagnosis and Therapy (2014 – 2018) and previous published data (1991-2013) were used to assess trends for DS LB prevalence and reduction percentage (the net decrease in DS LBs resulting from selective termination of pregnancies). Statistics Netherlands provided general population data.
RESULTS: DS LB prevalence increased from 11.6 per 10,000 in 1991 to 15.9 per 10,000 in 2002 (regression coefficient 0.246 (95% CI: 0.105 to 0.388; p=0.003)). After 2002, LB prevalence decreased to 11.3 per 10,000 in 2014 and further to 9.9 per 10,000 in 2018 (regression coefficient 0.234 (95% CI: -0.338 to -0.131; p<0.001). The reduction percentage increased from 26% in 1991 to 55.2% in 2018 (regression coefficient 0.012 (95%CI: 0.010 to 0.013; p<0.001)). There were no trend changes after introducing NIPT as second-tier (2014) and first-tier test (2017).
CONCLUSIONS: Introducing NIPT did not change the decreasing trend in DS LB prevalence and increasing trend in reduction percentage. These trends may be caused by a broader development of more prenatal testing that had already started before introducing NIPT. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
PMID:34176145 | DOI:10.1002/pd.6003
