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Introduction: French health professionals are now required to provide relevant information on the test screening for Down syndrome and its possible implications when making the test available to pregnant women. A questionnaire was designed to assess prescription modalities, explanation of results, opinion on the information received when test was offered and test results were given, and likely decision after screening., Results: The response rate was 39% (1473 questionnaires analyzed). In 90.5% of the answers, women declared that an interview had preceded test prescription. 61.2% of women were satisfied with both the clarity and quantity of explanations provided and 57.6% considered that the information had helped them decide to undergo or refuse screening. 54.1% were satisfied with the explanations of test results. Amniocentesis was proposed to 125 women, 79.2% of which decided to undergo the procedure. Their opinion concerning explanations of test results was similar to that of women who refused amniocentesis or had not yet made up their minds., Conclusion: Such results demonstrate the necessity to improve and adapt the information delivered by health professionals, keeping in mind that in this type of situation, decision making requires the rapid integration of complex information.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of congenital anomalies in 19 areas from 13 European countries. A total of 291,126 births were surveyed. On average most of the anomalies were recorded in livebirths. The total prevalence of congenital anomalies was 21.8 per 10,000 births. Four groups of congenital anomalies were of particular note in the consideration of geographic variations: neural tube defects, cleft lip, limb reduction defect and Down syndrome. For neural tube defects, 24 cases per 10,000 were recorded in the British Isles whereas only 9.6 cases per 10,000 were registered in Continental Europe. Cleft lip had a much higher prevalence in Groningen (The Netherlands) and in Odense (Denmark) than in the other European countries under study. The prevalence of limb reduction defect was high in Bilbao (Spain), in Odense, in Strasbourg (France) and in Groningen. In the study population the prevalence of Down syndrome ranged from 5.6 to 21.3 per 10,000 livebirths.