Who should be offered prenatal diagnosis? The 35-year-old question

Prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal disorders is generally offered to women w ho will be 35 years or older at the rime of delivery or who have been deter mined via serum screening to be at risk similar to that of a woman older th an 35 years. This age threshold was based on 4 major rationales that reflec t considerations of resources and effectiveness. In this paper, we explore the current screening recommendations and consider new information that cal ls the 35-years threshold into question. We conclude that guidelines regard ing use of prenatal diagnosis account for the preferences of the individual patient as well as for individual risk.