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Original poster

Risk of Down's Syndrome....how do you convert risk into a percentage?

80 replies

ButtonMoon · 15/03/2005 16:13

I have seen somewhere on here that some of you clever boffins can convert the 1/? risk into a percentage risk.....how do you do it?

OP posts:
ThomCat · 15/03/2005 16:53

Lots of love to you Buttonmoon, thinking of you, TC xxxx

bundle · 15/03/2005 17:02

"kind of" and "almost" "pushed upon us" do not constitute someone actually pushing something on you. please credit people with some intelligence. i know you are only trying to be kind and this is your experience. but i know no one who has felt that tests were pushed on them. Quite the opposite, in fact you hear more and more women (on mn) saying that eg nuchal fold measurements are not standard in their area and they seek them privately. i try especially hard to use neutral language when people ask about this kind of subject because I have no idea where they are coming from on it and all of the healthcare professionals i have had contact with did the same (as i wish they did with everyone)

(i'm not trying to have a dig , honestly, as i really respect your opinions, and know a little about you and your life/family. i just didn't want others reading it and taking it at face value, ie that you get swept along the tests road, iykwim)

cori · 15/03/2005 17:16

I specifically requested not to be tested for DS, Spina Bifida etc, as I was planning to spend several months in Australia during the pregnancy. ( I was leaving the following week) They went ahead and did the tests without my consent.
When I came back to the UK I did feel under quite a lot of pressure to have an amnio.
The hospital were not interested in why they had performed the tests without my consent, and that I had a completly different result when re tested in Australia.

ThomCat · 15/03/2005 17:17

Yes i am trying to be kind, don't want this thread taking a turn.
SOME people who I have spoken with have felt the conveyor belt feeling, some people i spoke to have felt tests were pushed on them. Glad you didn't feel any of this and even more pleased to hear it's happening less and less.
I do credit people with intelligence, not sure why you've said that. All I was doing was speaking from personal experince and what others have told me, as you are, I can't really see what I've said that is so wrong. Some people feel swept along, some don't. I'd rather leave this conversation here now if you don't mind. I'm not telling anyone to do, or not to do anything, I'm saying it's a personal decision.

ThomCat · 15/03/2005 17:21

Well that's waht i call being pushed Cori, and if I may say, doing them automatically, with out your consent is just the conveyor belt type of thig I'm speaking of. It's outrageous and it does go on. Sorry Bundle! Thank God not everyone has the same experiences.

ks · 15/03/2005 17:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bundle · 15/03/2005 17:40

cori what happened to you is completely wrong, you are right to feel angry and absolutely within your rights to make a formal complaint. however i do not think this is typical, as the phrase conveyor belt might hint.

tc, women who've had bad experiences are much more likely to report them (on here & elsewhere). i was asking you to credit women with the intelligence to make a decision about antenatal testing regardless of any pressure you might have felt under. let's leave it at that.

Surfermum · 15/03/2005 17:41

Looking back I felt very pushed into an amnio. My risk after the nuchal fold was 1:148 and I was 40. They told me that I was in the high risk group, and that the Consultant recommended that everyone of my age had an amnio. There was no other information forthcoming, despite us trying to probe and I was basically told to stop snivelling, consider it a priviledge to be having a baby, and an appointment for an amnio was shoved in my hand. It was an agonising decision to go ahead as I'd already had 2 mcs.

Surfermum · 15/03/2005 17:42

I wish I'd found mumsnet then as I would have had a whole load more support and information than I did from the clinic.

bundle · 15/03/2005 17:42

surfermum that's appalling

ks · 15/03/2005 17:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bundle · 15/03/2005 17:45

anyway, 1/148 for a 40 yr old is not above the "normal" risk. truly appalling.

tamum · 15/03/2005 17:50

cori, if they took a blood sample without your wishes that was assault, and you would be quite justified in making a huge fuss. My personal experience was that I had to ask for testing, the onus was very much on the individual to request it.

Surfermum, that's awful, and as bundle said they aren't even bad odds

ThomCat · 15/03/2005 17:51

Bundle - Of course I credit people with the intelligence to make their own decision, I really can't understand why you think I'm saying otherwise. I actually didn't feel under pressure, the attitude of my first hospital was that of 'well of course you'll want all the tests available' and no I didn't. I've not said that anyone isn't intelligent enough to realise that you don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

Sorry you are another one that felt pushed Surfermum.

Clayhead · 15/03/2005 17:55

I didn't have the test either time and I really had to resist it. Certainly round here, it is accepted you will have them and you have to be very firm if you don't. I have a couple of friends who decided with their dh/dp that they wouldn't have the test and then got very pressured once at hospital. I didn't have them as I knew I wouldn't abort so there was no point in me going down that road but none of the midwives I saw seemed to understand this.

Surfermum · 15/03/2005 17:57

I'm actually thinking about arming myself with some information and contacting them about it to ask why I was told I was high risk when it seems I might not have been. I'm sat here with a lump in my throat as I talk about this and it's over 2 years ago now.

ThomCat · 15/03/2005 17:57

See Bundle, I don't want to fall out but women are pressured and that's all I was saying.
Let's me and you just shake hands and smile please can we now?
i'm leaving to go and get Lottie and go home but will log on later, TC x

ThomCat · 15/03/2005 17:58

Sufermum, that's just so sad. My heart goes out to you so much.

bundle · 15/03/2005 17:59

I took this

"All I can say I have never regretted stepping off the conveyor belt and not having tests"

as meaning that not everyone is capable of making that decision (ie most people just get swept along) and thought that unhelpful in this context. let's just leave it at that, i know you wouldn't intend to say that people hadn't the nous to make up their own minds, it's just that i am particularly sensitive to the kind of language used re: this topic, as i mentioned.

personally, i have never regretted accepting the tests offered to me (with counselling) and was confident (although sad) about the next step if the outcome was a bad one for us.

bundle · 15/03/2005 18:00

sorry, crossed posts.
definitely smiling (dh's turn to pick up the kids tonight...working late!)

bundle · 15/03/2005 18:00

surfermum, i'm so sorry

bundle · 15/03/2005 18:08

(from the govt's ds screening prog)

Woman?s age (years) Risk as a ratio %Risk
20 1:1500 0.066
30 1:800 0.125
35 1:270 0.37
40 1:100 1.0
45 and over 1:50 and greater 2.0

Socci · 15/03/2005 18:22

Message withdrawn

Tinker · 15/03/2005 18:25

Just to complicate it further , the risk changes from beginning to end of pregnancy. Presumably because of spontaneous miscarriages.

Tinker · 15/03/2005 18:27

And didn't have pressure to have tests (I'm 40). Had to pay for nuchal tests, amnio was mentioned as an option once and midwife almost tried to dissaude me from having blood tests at 16 weeks becasue my age would skew the results. Just giving my experience.

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