Influence of ethnic origin on nuchal translucency screening for Down's syndrome

Abstract

Objective: To determine the influence of ethnic origin on access to and equity of nuchal translucency screening for Down's syndrome in a multiethnic population.

Design: An observational study in a district general hospital with a large multiethnic population.

Subjects: 1944 women attending at a hospital antenatal clinic.

Main outcome measures: First-trimester fetal nuchal translucency measurements at 10-14 weeks in women from different ethnic groups.

Results: The racial origin of the screened population was not significantly different from that of the population attending for initial antenatal examination. Multiple regression analysis showed a small but significant difference in nuchal translucency measurement between fetuses of different ethnic origin.

Conclusion: Nuchal translucency screening can be effectively and equitably delivered to a multiethnic population. Although there are significant differences in nuchal translucency measurement between ethnic groups, these differences are too small to require correction when nuchal translucency is used to screen for Down's syndrome.