Prenatal Screening: A Tool to Predict, Prevent, and Prepare

Abstract

There has been a considerable reduction in maternal mortality from 6 to 9/1000 live births and infant mortality from 100/1000 live births in the 1900s to less than 0.1/1000 live births and 7/1000 live births, respectively, in the 2000s. This is mostly due to nutritional improvement and obstetric and fetal medicine advancements. However, in the current era, prevention of mortality is not the only goal but also the prevention of morbidity. Thus comes the importance of prenatal screening, which would help us to predict and prevent maternal-fetal complications and in non-preventable conditions to prepare ourselves for optimal care of the mother and fetus. Prenatal screening is thus a test to detect potential health disorders in pregnant mothers or the fetus and to identify a subset who may need additional testing to determine the presence or absence of disease. It is done to categorize mothers into high-risk and low-risk pregnancies to prevent maternal complications, screen the fetus for aneuploidies, anomalies, and growth abnormalities, and decide on any indicated interventions and the time and mode of safe delivery so that an optimal perinatal outcome is achieved. Prenatal screening not only caters to identify fetal complications but also attempts to identify maternal complications early.