scholarly journals Knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of women in the reproductive age towards prenatal screening for congenital malformations, Alexandria-Egypt

Author(s):  
Rehab Elsaid Nour Eldin Youssef ◽  
Heba Taha El-Weshahi ◽  
Mona Hamdy Ashry

Background: The study was conducted to explore the Egyptian women’s attitudes toward the prenatal screening (PNS) for congenital malformations and termination of pregnancy if medically indicated and assessing their knowledge and beliefs regarding prenatal screening.Methods: A total of 351 Egyptian women in the reproductive age giving birth to at least one child completed a structured questionnaire to assess their knowledge of prenatal diagnosis and their willingness to undergo prenatal screening as well as their opinions on termination of pregnancy if medically indicated. Women's beliefs were also assessed.Results: More than half of studied women (52.71%) are lacking knowledge about the availability of the accurate tests for prenatal screening of congenital malformations. After giving information about PNS, more than three quarters (77.5%) of the studied women held positive attitudes toward the prenatal screening for congenital malformations. The other one quarter was either refusing or not sure about their opinion (4.6% and 17.9% respectively). Only 58.7% accepting termination of pregnancy if medically indicated. Positive attitude towards PNS was significantly higher among females with older age (P=0.019) as well as those of higher social class as indicated by higher level of education (p=0.026), urban residency (p=0.046) and working women (p=0.005). Perceived seriousness of congenital malformations and believing in the importance of early detection of such condition were the significant motives to undergo PNS.Conclusions: There is marked lack of knowledge about the prenatal screening tests among the studied women. After giving information about PNS, most of them shows a positive attitude towards carrying out these tests and about half of them reported their acceptance for termination of pregnancy if medically indicated based on prenatal diagnosis of sever congenital malformations. Emphasis national needs for health education programs about PNS importance and development of well-structured national program for PNS.

Author(s):  
Anatoliy S. Simakhodskiy ◽  
O. P. Romanenko

The dynamics of indices of diagnosis and treatment of congenital malformations (CM) in St. Petersburg for 2006-2015 is presented. CM were reveal to retain a high specific gravity and rank structure as causal factors of the infant and child mortality rate, which requires the inclusion of prenatal diagnosis in the quality control of medical care provided by insurance medical organizations. CM were established to account of about 30% in the structure of infant mortality. The authors believe that preventive education of future parents, preconceptional genetic counseling, full coverage of prenatal screening of pregnant women and active work of ethical commissions, will reduce the frequency of births of children with CM.


2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching Hua Hsiao ◽  
Ching Hsuan Chen ◽  
Po Jen Cheng ◽  
Steven W. Shaw ◽  
Woei Chyn Chu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of prenatal screening tests on prenatal diagnosis in Taiwan’s 14 years from 2006 to 2019. Methods The prenatal screening methods evolved from the second-trimester serum screening to combined first-trimester screening (cFTS) and then followed by the non-invasive cell-free DNA prenatal test (NIPT). The data used by the Department of Statistics, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Department of Household Registration, Ministry of the Interior public website. Results This regional registry-based cohort retrospective study examined a total of 2,775,792 births from January 2006 to December 2019. The proportion of advanced maternal age (AMA) pregnancies increased from 11.63% in 2006 to 30.94% in 2019. Overall, invasive diagnostic testing was used in 87.22% of AMA pregnancies. The prenatal detection rate of trisomy 21 and 18 increased from 74.1% and 83.3% in 2006 to 96.9% and 98.8% in 2019, respectively. Conclusion During the second-trimester and cFTS periods, the percentage of AMA pregnancies increased every year and the number of invasive procedures also accompany with increased percentage of AMA. However, during the period that NIPT were implemented, the percentage of invasive procedures decreased.


Author(s):  
Е.А. Калашникова ◽  
Е.Н. Андреева ◽  
П.А. Голошубов ◽  
Н.О. Одегова ◽  
Е.В. Юдина ◽  
...  

В ходе анализа результатов раннего пренатального скрининга (РПС) в России за 2018 г. (Аудит-2019) дана оценка качества мероприятий, общей эффективности и тенденций развития системы РПС в субъектах РФ посредством сравнения рассчитанных основных организационных, методологических и интегральных показателей с международными референтными значениями. In the course of analyzing the results of early prenatal combined first-trimester screening (FTS) in Russia for 2018 (Audit-2019) the assessment of the quality of measures, the overall effectiveness and trends in the development of the FTS system in the regions of Russia. They are presented by comparing the calculated main organizational, methodological and integral indicators with international reference values.


Author(s):  
Vsevolod Konstantinov ◽  
Alexander Reznik ◽  
Masood Zangeneh ◽  
Valentina Gritsenko ◽  
Natallia Khamenka ◽  
...  

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of foreign students toward the use of medical cannabis (MC) for pain management. Methods: This study uses data collected from 549 foreign students from India (n = 289) and Middle Eastern countries mostly from Egypt, Iran, Syria, and Jordan (n = 260) studying medicine in Russia and Belarus. Data collected from Russian and Belarusian origin medical students (n = 796) were used for comparison purposes. Pearson’s chi-squared and t-test were used to analyze the data. Results: Foreign students’ country of origin and gender statuses do not tend to be correlated with medical student responses toward medical cannabis use. Students from Russia and Belarus who identified as secular, compared to those who were religious, reported more positive attitudes toward medical cannabis and policy change. Conclusions: This study is the first to examine the attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs toward medical cannabis among foreign students from India and Middle Eastern countries studying in Russia and Belarus, two countries who oppose its recreational and medicine use. Indian and Middle Eastern students, as a group, tend to be more supportive of MC than their Russian and Belarusian counterparts. These results may be linked to cultural and historical reasons. This study provides useful information for possible medical and allied health curriculum and education purposes.


Author(s):  
Bandar Alsaif ◽  
Najm Eldinn Elsser Elhassan ◽  
Ramaiah Itumalla ◽  
Kamal Elbassir Ali ◽  
Mohamed Ali Alzain

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major public health problem around the world. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess the awareness and prevalence of General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) with regard to COVID-19 among the Hail community, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in order to help health authorities to effectively control the pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 412 participants living in Hail, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire assessed demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices for the prevention of COVID-19, as well as psychological feelings in terms of GAD as an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The study found that most of the respondents demonstrated good knowledge, attitudes, and practice for COVID-19 prevention. The elderly and employed demonstrated significant positive attitudes and practices (p < 0.05). Participants with a positive attitude were almost two and a half times (OR = 2.4; 95% CI: 1.54–3.99) more likely to have good practices. Additionally, the rural respondents were less likely (OR = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.21–0.96) to have a positive attitude. Married participants were more than one and a half (OR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.04–2.44) times more likely to have a positive attitude. The prevalence of GAD was 21.8% and was significantly increased among participants with inadequate knowledge (OR = 2.01; 95% CI: 1.25–3.22), females (OR = 1.92; 95% CI: 1.19–3.09), individuals with chronic diseases (OR = 1.71; 95% CI: 1.02–2.86), and non-Saudi participants (OR = 2.44; 95% CI: 1.02–5.85). Conclusions: Ensuring a sufficient combination of relatively good levels of knowledge, positive attitudes, and desired practices serves as a good approach to preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, the increased prevalence of GAD requires the attention of policymakers. Therefore, a great emphasis should be placed on health awareness campaigns, with a focus on misconceptions and the provision of counseling.


Author(s):  
Bárbara Araújo Marques ◽  
Ericka Vianna Machado Carellos ◽  
Vânia Maria Novato Silva ◽  
Fernando Henrique Pereira ◽  
Maria Regina Lage Guerra ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Most prenatal screening programs for toxoplasmosis use immunoassays in serum samples of pregnant women. Few studies assess the accuracy of screening tests in dried blood spots, which are of easy collection, storage, and transportation. The goals of the present study are to determine the performance and evaluate the agreement between an immunoassay of dried blood spots and a reference test in the serum of pregnant women from a population-based prenatal screening program for toxoplasmosis in Brazil. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed to compare the immunoassays Imunoscreen Toxoplasmose IgM and Imunoscreen Toxoplasmose IgG (Mbiolog Diagnósticos, Ltda., Contagem, Minas Gerais, Brazil)in dried blood spots with the enzyme-linked fluorescent assay (ELFA, BioMérieux S.A., Lyon, France) reference standard in the serum of pregnant women from Minas Gerais Congenital Toxoplasmosis Control Program. Results The dried blood spot test was able to discriminate positive and negative results of pregnant women when compared with the reference test, with an accuracy of 98.2% for immunoglobulin G (IgG), and of 95.8% for immunoglobulin M (IgM). Conclusion Dried blood samples are easy to collect, store, and transport, and they have a good performance, making this a promising method for prenatal toxoplasmosis screening programs in countries with continental dimensions, limited resources, and a high prevalence of toxoplasmosis, as is the case of Brazil.


Author(s):  
Rocío Cabra-Rodríguez ◽  
Guadalupe Bueno Rodríguez ◽  
Cristina Santos Rosa ◽  
Miguel Ángel Castaño López ◽  
Sonia Delgado Muñoz ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectivesNon-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) is a test for the detection of major fetal chromosomal abnormalities in maternal blood during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of NIPS implemented within the framework of the Screening Program for Congenital Abnormalities of the Andalusian Health System.MethodsA retrospective observational study was undertaken to determine the number of NIPS tests performed since its introduction. The number of invasive diagnostic tests done after the implementation of NIPS in the patients included in the program between March 2016 and August 2017 was also quantified.ResultsA total of 6,258 combined first- and second trimester screening tests were performed, covering 95% of the population. In total, 250 subjects were identified as high risk, of whom 200 underwent NIPS after loss to follow-up. NIPS showed a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI: 76.84–100%) and a specificity of 99.46% (95% CI: 97.04–99.99%).ConclusionsThis test has proven to have a very high sensitivity and specificity. The results obtained demonstrate that the incorporation of NIPS in clinical practice minimizes the rate of miscarriages and reduces the frequency of invasive procedures by 70%.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florrie N. Y. Yu ◽  
Elizabeth Y. Y. Li ◽  
Meliza C. W. Kong ◽  
Teresa W. L. Ma ◽  
Kelvin Y. K. Chan ◽  
...  

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