NHS combined low risk but still worried

[BoyMom2023]

Hi all
I think I may be worrying for no reason ! But a bit of background I’ve had 3 MCs before my beautiful boy was born .
With him my risks from NHS combined were;
<1 in 10k for downs and <1 in 100k for Edwards / Plat (I was 28)

Im 15 weeks pregnant now and just had my NHS combined results back for this pregnancy ;
<1 in 5k for both ( I am 31)

I know this is still low risk but worried because of the large variation .

im generally anxious which doesn’t help , would you have NIPT ? The only thing that puts me off is it wouldn’t change anything if it came back high risk - I wouldn’t have any further testing !

thank you for reading x

It will purely be based on the fact you are older that the numbers have changed. Between my first and last the numbers went from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 500 because of my age. I understand the anxiety but you are still very low risk

It’s a very odd though -4999 unaffected babies for every one who is.
If you’re considering further testing it’s always good to ask what you would do with the information. If the answer is nothing, then is the test worth having?

Low odd
sorry no edit button

I would ask the question what another screening test would offer you? Even a low risk screening result never prevents risk of miscarriage - it’ll only tell you that baby is at lower risk of three main Trisomies. It also means you may he caused unnecessary stress due to high risk of “false positives” (i. e. High risk results) with NIPT which with the majority of Trisomies will be most likely to wrongly detect risk than accurately predict likelihood of any conditions.

if you feel another screening suggesting lower risk would relieve all your anxieties, then maybe NIPT would be worth it. However I have known this mentality to backfire a lot - as more tests generally bring more anxiety rather than reduce. It is personal for everyone however.

Thank you everyone , I feel a bit better about it now actually , think it’s just hard to not compare !

Hi, I’m a midwife and we have just had a message from our screening team at our trust to tell us that the way results are being reported is changing so that it is standardised across all trusts and the lowest results possible under this new system with be <1 in 5000. It’s being phased in throughout all trusts during 2023 so that’s possibly what’s happened with your results and you’ve actually got the best result possible so that’s good news 💐

I don't think you have anything to worry about. I've just received my results this week and I have a 1 in 53 chance of having a baby with DS.

That’s very useful to know and certainly put my mind at rest , thank you @MojoJojo71 x

@Onethingiwantfor23 thank you - the thing is these are only chances and not certainty , but don’t half make you worry , I hope everything goes okay for you xx