Acceptability of antenatal diagnosis for sicke-cell disease among jamaican mothers and female patients

ABSTRACT

A questionnaire on the need and acceptability of antenatal diagnosis (AND) for sickle-cell disease was given to 112 women with homozygous sickle-cell (SS) disease and 117 AS mothers for patients with SS disease, all aged 15-45 years. AND was favoured by 58% of patients and 76% of mothers, the option for termination of an affected pregnancy being the reason in 43% of patients and in 51% of mothers among this group. Fear of the procedure was the commonest reason for not selecting AND. Of the two common methods, chorionic villus samplis (first trimester) and amniocentesis (second trimester), 74% of all women selected the first trimester method, and 93% considered these tests should be available in Jamaica. Faced with the diagnosis of a foetus with SS disease, 30% of patients and 46% of mothers stated they would request termination