Variables Affecting the Decision Making to Uptake Prenatal Testing

The women’s decision to uptake prenatal testing is complex, involving different factors. We conducted a Cross Sectional study to investigate variables influencing this choice, with particular attention to socio-demographic, obstetric history and midwifery care variables. Background: With the increased routinization of prenatal testing, there has been a corresponding attention to parents’ decision-making. We are interested to explore those factors affecting the couple’s choice to improve antenatal care and enable parents to be aware and to make an informed choice. Methods and findings: A sample of 448 consecutive women with a low-risk of having fetal abnormalities was interviewed to collect socio-demographic, obstetric history and antenatal care information. We identified that factors related to the use of non-invasive testing were: previous miscarriage, received antenatal counselling on prenatal testing, number of antenatal appointments and lack of maternal knowledge about prenatal testing. Regarding invasive prenatal testing factors increasing the use were: maternal age, single status and antenatal counselling.