ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the current approach and knowledge of aneuploidy screening among obstetricians and gynaecologists in Jamaica.
Methods: A questionnaire of primarily multiple-choice questions was sent by mail or hand-delivered to obstetricians and gynecologists across the country. The questions concerned demographics, knowledge of screening and diagnostic tests available and test selection.
Results: Sixty-nine out of 100 (69%) doctors responded to the questionnaire; 63/67 (91.3%) reported that less than 25% of their patients had aneuploidy screening (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85, 0.93) and 13/68 (19.1% [95% CI 0.11, 0.30]) of respondents offered screening to all their patients. The frequency of screening tests was 52.9%, 22.1%, 18.8%, 14.7%, 13.0% and 8.8% for the quadruple screen (QUAD), triple screen, second trimestre ultrasound, first trimestre screen, free fetal DNA and nuchal translucency, respectively. Most physicians answered most of the questions correctly (83.3% correct response rate) and the majority of persons answered at least 5/6 questions correctly.
Conclusions: Obstetricians and gynaecologists are aware of aneuploidy risks, screening tests and universal screening recommendations, however only a small fraction of their patients received these tests. This suggests the need for exploration of the barriers to screening and studies on patient’s knowledge and views on screening.
Manuscripts that are Published Ahead of Print have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by the Editorial Board of the West Indian Medical Journal. They may appear in their original format and may not be copy edited or formatted in the style guide of this Journal. While accepted manuscripts are not yet assigned a volume, issue or page numbers, they can be cited using the DOI and date of e-publication. See our Instructions for Authors on how to properly cite manuscripts at this stage. The contents of the manuscript may change before it is published in its final form. Manuscripts in this section will be removed once they have been issued to a volume and issue, but will still retain the DOI and date of e-publication.
Our 7 faculties and 12 professional schools offer more than 200 programmes to some 18,000 graduate, undergraduate and continuing studies students.
The UWI, Mona ranks first in Jamaica among accredited tertiary-level programmes. In 2012, the University was again one of Jamaica’s Top 100 Employers.
