Prospective prenatal serum screening for Down syndrome in Venezuela

OBJECTIVE: To assess the usefulness of triple-marker screening for Down syndrome in Venezuela. METHOD: Maternal serum concentrations of alpha fetoprotein (AFP), beta human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG), and unconjugated estriol (uE3) were measured weekly in 3895 women from the 15th to the 20th week of pregnancy. Population-specific likelihood ratios were determined and used to calculate the risk of fetal Down syndrome for each pregnancy. RESULTS: The median multiple of the median values for AFP, beta-hCG, and uE3 concentrations were 0.69, 2.10, and 0.67 for the affected pregnancies. The likelihood ratio for a positive result was 1:19. The detection and false-positive rates were 69.23% and 5.8%. CONCLUSION: These findings were consistent with reported data and therefore confirmed triple-marker serum screening as effective and suitable for prenatal care in Venezuela. Latin American governments and Health Agencies should recommend offering this screening method to all pregnant women.