The results of the triple test are in and a third-time mother wants advice on her higher than average score. RK's resident midwife, Genevieve Kingston, advises.
Raisingkids member's problem I am 42 and expecting my third child in July. I had my other two at 36 and 39 and each time had a pretty good triple test result for my age, about 10 years lower each time. This time however my result has come back as 1 in 30 which is a little higher than my age average so this has thrown me a bit.
I am too far along apparently for a nuchal fold scan and dont want to have an amnio because of the risk of miscarriage and I have heard that it can give quite a lot of false positives as well as not being able to tell you how severe the baby is if it does have downs.
I have heard that the triple test can be affected by things such as diet and your health on the day and was wondering if anyone knew anymore about this please?
Midwife Genevieve Kingston's Advice At 42 your triple test will come back positive even if there is nothing wrong with the baby. That is because it is scaled by age and over 40 it is always comes back as positive.
If you really have to know if the baby has Downs, Edwards or Spina Bifida, you will need to discuss having an amniocentesis or CVS. These both have miscarriage risks so you need to be sure that you are willing to risk the pregnancy.
As you mentioned, there is nuchal fold screening but it needs to be done early in pregnancy. You need to be referred to the hospital to see the team soon, if it hasn't already happened ask your GP to refer you as urgent as you wish to discuss early screening possibilities (if you do).
The scan at 20 weeks can pick up abnormalities, (that is the main reason it is done) but it's halfway through a pregnancy, so if you think you would terminate if there was a problem ask to be referred soon. If you want to know so you know what's coming (ie you would keep the baby but want to plan ahead) I would suggest waiting for the 20 week scan. Nothing in obstetrics is infallible and none of the tests tell you how severely disabled the child will be, just whether they will have it (or not.)
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