When 95 women from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio were surveyed about their views of noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) versus invasive screening, more than 60% of respondents said they would choose NIPT or no invasive testing if ultrasound screening, a quad screen, or conventional first-trimester screening revealed an abnormality. One-third of respondents said they would likely undergo invasive testing if NIPT results were abnormal, and more than 50% of women in this group reported that the results might influence their decision to continue the pregnancy.
The survey results were presented as a poster at the 2014 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) annual clinical meeting in Chicago.1
All patients attended a group prenatal genetic counseling session led by a single provider in early pregnancy before completing the survey.
The military population surveyed in this study “as a whole is a little bit skewed in race and education,” said Jacqueline Vidosh, MD, a coauthor of the study. That population was predominantly white, with the majority of women having completed at least some college.”
“The nice thing about a military population, however, is that you capture geographical differences, which is a lot harder to do on a small scale,” said Dr. Vidosh.
Andrea Shields, MD, provided the genetic counseling education for the study.
“My class lasted anywhere from 75 minutes to about 90 minutes,” she said, “so it was a considerable time that we took, but it wasn’t specifically devoted to NIPT. That portion took about 10 minutes. But it was introducing them to prenatal diagnosis and screening that took a while, so I think there has to be a large focus on education for any type of prenatal test. Pretest education is extremely important, especially when we’re trying to introduce this technology.”
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