Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of the study was to estimate the proportion of women giving birth in two hospitals in the Region of Southern Denmark who did not attend the malformation scan and to elucidate the reasons for not participating.MethodsIn this register-based descriptive study, we used patient administration systems to identify women who had given birth at two Danish hospitals between March 2013 and January 2015. We then linked this information with the hospital database for fetal medicine (Astraia) to identify women who did not attend the malformation scan at week 18–20. We reviewed the medical records of these women to validate the data and to identify the reason for non-participation.ResultsOf 7690 births, 153 (2%) women did not attend the malformation scan. The main reason for non-participation was a passive deselection (81%). Most of these women were not present in Denmark at the time of the malformation scan (61%) and few women declined (8%).ConclusionsLess than 2% of a birth cohort in two major hospitals in Denmark did not attend the free offer of a malformation scan. Most of these women (81%) did not actively decide against the malformation scan. Very few (0.2%) declined the malformation scan. Non-attendance is not always due to an active decision made by the pregnant woman.
Highlights
The aim of the study was to estimate the proportion of women giving birth in two hospitals in the Region of Southern Denmark who did not attend the malformation scan and to elucidate the reasons for not participating
The total number of births at Lillebaelt Hospital (LH) and Odense University Hospital (OUH) was 7690 in the defined study periods. Of these we identified 153 (2.0%) women who did not attend the malformation scan between week 18 + 0 and 21 + 6
61% of the non-participants originated from a country other than Denmark
Summary
The aim of the study was to estimate the proportion of women giving birth in two hospitals in the Region of Southern Denmark who did not attend the malformation scan and to elucidate the reasons for not participating. The malformation scan in the second trimester and the combined first trimester screening (cFTS) are part of the routine antenatal care offered in Denmark and have been offered to all pregnant women since 2006 [1]. The uptake rate of Participation in prenatal screening is high in Denmark compared to other European countries offering prenatal screening in the first and second trimester. Societal factors were defined as norms and ethics of society for example regarding abortion and disabled people, public media coverage on prenatal screening, attitudes of health services and clinicians, attitudes of other pregnant women, availability of prenatal screening. Personal factors include personal ethics, norms and morality, religious conviction, time in pregnancy, attitude of partner and friends, age, and previous pregnancy experiences [12]
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