Katarína Schenková
Over the last few years, the rise in maternal age is part of the social trends in Slovakia. The aim of this study was to determine
the probability with which the prenatal biochemical screening of pregnant women in various age categories
was positive and describe how the specific screening pathologies participate on this positivity. We used statistical analysis
to analyse the group of pregnant women who underwent the prenatal biochemical screening in Medirex, a. s. during
2016. We confirmed the significant correlation between the screening positivity and age. This was caused mainly
by elevated age-related positivity in screenings for Down’s syndrome (DS) – in the group of women younger than
19 years, the total positivity was 3.1%, for DS 2.1 %; in the group of 20-24 years old 3.0% and 1.4 % positivity for DS;
and in the group of 25-29 years old 5.1%, 3.4% for DS. In the group of 30-34 years old, there was the total positivity
7.4%, 5.6% for DS; in the group of 35-39 years old 16.8 %, 14,2 % for DS; in the group of 40-44 years old 35.6 %, for DS
33%; and in the group of women older than 45 years, there was the total positivity 33%, for DS 26.7%. Due to the recent
tendency to the motherhood in higher age, we can expect the increase in the number of positive screenings. Therefore
the complex approach to the prenatal screening and diagnosis is needed