Re: Question about Down Syndrome and age-related beliefs....

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The "35 year old cutoff" isn't set in stone. However, for a long time, the only way to detect Downs syndrome was through amnio. There is a risk that having an amnio will induce a miscarriage. Thus, doctors would advise women for whom the risk of m/c was greater than the risk of having a Downs baby to skip the amnio (unless this was something the parents absolutely wanted to know). The odds of m/c vs Downs used to become even for moms at age 35, hence the cutoff.

These days the chances of having a m/c following amnio are a bit lower, so the "cut off" could be moved earlier. Moreover, the trade off between learning that your baby has Downs syndrome versus a m/c isn't necessarily a 1:1 relationship. Some women feel that having a Downs baby is more than they could handle. For these women, having an amnio (or CVS) might be wroth it, even if they are in their 20s. Other women would never abort a baby no matter what, or they may feel they do not really need the early warning; for these women, having an amnio may be inappropriate -- no matter what the age.

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