Women and health care professionals' preferences for Down's Syndrome screening tests: a conjoint analysis study

• Published in: BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology Vol. 111; no. 8; pp. 775 - 779
• Main Authors: Bishop, Amanda J., Marteau, Theresa M., Armstrong, David, Chitty, Lyn S., Longworth, Louise, Buxton, Martin J., Berlin, Cheryl
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK and Malden, USA Blackwell Science Ltd 01.08.2004; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult; Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Chromosome aberrations; Down Syndrome - prevention & control; Down Syndrome - psychology; Female; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; London; Mass Screening - psychology; Medical genetics; Medical sciences; Nurse Midwives - psychology; Obstetrics; Patient Satisfaction; Prenatal Diagnosis - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; London; United Kingdom > UK; England; Chromosomal aberration; Human; Trisomy; Gynecology; Chromosome G21; Aneuploidy; Exploration; Down syndrome; Medical screening; Congenital disease; Obstetrics; Care; Preference; Female; Public health
• ISSN: 1470-0328; 1471-0528
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2004.00197.x

Objective  To describe and compare women and health care professionals' preferences for Down's Syndrome screening tests with different test characteristics. Design  Cross sectional questionnaire based conjoint analysis study. Setting  London teaching hospital. Sample  291/383 women in their first or second trimester of pregnancy and 98/122 health care professionals (41 obstetricians, senior house officers and above and 57 qualified midwives) providing care at the same hospital. Methods  Women completed a questionnaire while attending a clinic visit for a dating scan or a routine 20‐week anomaly scan. Health care professionals completed a postal questionnaire. Main outcome measures  The relative values participants attach to Down's Syndrome screening test attributes: time of test, detection rate and risk of miscarriage of a baby unaffected by Down's Syndrome as a result of subsequent diagnostic tests. Results  Pregnant women and health care professionals shared broadly similar relative values regarding the importance of safe tests, conducted early and with high detection rates. When asked to choose between different Down's Syndrome screening tests, health care professionals valued earlier tests more highly than did women. Conclusions  While pregnant women and health care professionals share similar relative values regarding optimal prenatal tests, health care professionals place a higher value on earlier tests. This may result in screening policies that overweight timing in the selection of a test to the relative neglect of tests associated with lower miscarriage rates and higher detection rates but conducted later in pregnancy.