Confused by Down's test result

[Daffodilly]

I just had my letter through from the hospital after nuchal scan and blood test.

It says:

Age related risk 1 in 410
Trisomy 21 risk 1 in 3600

Does this mean that the tests have lowered the risk based on age alone? It also says "low risk" so I am not worried - would just like to understand all the numbers!

Yes I think thats what it means.

I think it means that without any tests at all other than noting the age the risk is 1 in 410.

When they anaylse the test the risk is lower than it ordinarily be for your age (i.e. if you hade 3600 babies only 1 (statistically speaking) would have a trisomy 21 abnormality; which is good...

If they are going to give you the figures I wonder why don't they include a leaflet on how to interpret them!

But you could feed back to your hospital PALS service that they are sending out letters which are not crystal clear!

x post - yes exactly - a leaflet would be a good plan. I'm surprised there isn't one actually - maybe they forgot to put it in?

That looks to me like your risk based on your age alone would have been 1 in 410 but because of good bloods and scan the risk is even lower at 1 in 3600.

Looks good to me!

Thanks for reassurances. Tis nice to get some good news (though I realise that it isn't a guarantee).

NL - good idea on giving feedback to PALS as it would probably save them hassle of questions too.

I'm sure you've done this already - but why not ask your midwife for a definitive answer? Mine are happy for non-urgent messages to be left, and try to call back within 24 hrs. As they are keen for you to be as relaxed as poss I'm sure they'd be only too happy to explain.
I agree with feedmenow, by the way!

feedmenow is right - the 1/410 is the statistical risk; the 1/3600 the adjusted background risk once your bloods and nuchal have been taken into account.

There is a brilliant charity for that is there to help with confusing or worrying antenatal screening and diagnosis results. www.arc-uk.org. They have a help line or you can e-mail. They are great so do give them a call.

Antenatal testing is changing and improving quite rapidly, but unfortunately sometimes the explanations don't keep up. However, your midwife should be able to explain if you can get hold of her, and a letter to PALS is a great idea. Hopefully it will make them think more carefully about what goes in the letters in future.

you have absolutely nothing to worry about - they are fine.