Canadian experts say no age bar for pre-natal screening:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Noninvasive prenatal genetic screening (ultrasound, blood testing) should be extended to all Canadian women, regardless of their age, to reduce the number of invasive tests and allow effective prenatal planning and care. This is the primary recommendation by leading physicians in the field, published this month in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada (JOGC). Testing is currently offered to women over-35 who are at greater risk of giving birth to a child with a condition caused by genetic abnormalities, such as Down's syndrome. Among the other recommendations was that screening programmes should be implemented with resources to support multiple services, including audited screening and diagnostic lab services, ultrasound and high quality diagnostic testing.