Effect of religion on the attitude of primiparous women toward genetic testing.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Factors that influence a pregnant woman's decision to accept or decline genetic tests are largely undefined. The objective of this study was to determine the acceptance rate of prenatal diagnostic testing in Lebanon according to religion. METHODS: Prenatal charts were reviewed to obtain information about prenatal genetic testing. Women were divided according to their religion and were compared regarding the acceptance of triple screen test (TST) or amniocentesis (AMN) and reasons for declining such tests. Differences between groups were examined using the student's t-test, chi(2)-test and multivariate analysis (age >or= 35 years, religion, education and class). RESULTS: The religious distribution was 73.8% Moslems, 14.0% Christians and 11.2% Druze. Utilization of TST, AMN, and either (TST/AMN) was 61.2%, 7.6% and 67.0%, respectively. Uptake of TST/AMN was highest in Christians and lowest in Moslems and that of AMN higher in Christians >or= 35 years compared with Moslems. On multivariate analysis, none of the factors studied significantly affected the utilization of TST or TST/AMN except for age >or= 35 years which was associated with a borderline decrease in the utilization of TST Odds Ratio (OR) 0.485 (95% CI 0.21-1.12). The utilization of AMN significantly increased with age >or= 35 years OR 7.19 (95% CI 2.65-19.56) and lower education. CONCLUSION: Religion does not seem to affect utilization of prenatal diagnostic tests in Lebanon.