ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2008
Delay between pregnancy confirmation and sickle cell and [corrected] thalassaemia screening: a population-based cohort study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Preconception risk assessment for thalassaemia, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Preconception risk assessment for thalassaemia, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Preconception risk assessment for thalassaemia, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia in primary care: a cost-effectiveness study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011Trial
- Offering antenatal sickle cell and thalassaemia screening to pregnant women in primary care: a qualitative study of GPs' experiences.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2010Trial
- Effectiveness of earlier antenatal screening for sickle cell disease and thalassaemia in primary care: cluster randomised trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2010Trial
- EHA Recommendations for preconceptual and antenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis for hemoglobinopathies.HemaSphere · 2026Article
- Antenatal haemoglobinopathy screening - Experiences of a large Australian Centre.Obstetric medicine · 2021Article
- Commissioning maternity care: little room for manoeuvre?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011Article
- Maximising recruitment and retention of general practices in clinical trials: a case study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2008Article
- Community-based maternity care in 2008.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2008Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAntenatal sickle cell and thalassaemia screening sometimes occurs too late to allow couples a choice regarding termination of affected fetuses. The target gestational age for offering the test in the UK is 10 weeks.
aimTo describe the proportion of women screened before 70 days' (10 weeks') gestation and the delay between pregnancy confirmation in primary care and antenatal sickle cell and thalassaemia screening. DESIGN OF STUDY: Cohort study of reported pregnancies.
settingTwenty-five general practices in two UK inner-city primary care trusts offering universal screening.
methodAnonymised data on all pregnancies reported to participating general practices was collected for a minimum of 6 months.
resultsThere were 1441 eligible women intending to proceed with their pregnancies, whose carrier status was not known. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) gestational age at pregnancy confirmation was 7.6 weeks (6.0-10.7 weeks) and 74% presented before 10 weeks. The median gestational age at screening was 15.3 weeks (IQR = 12.6-18.0 weeks), with only 4.4% being screened before 10 weeks. The median delay between pregnancy confirmation and screening was 6.9 weeks (4.7-9.3 weeks) After allowing for practice level variation, there was no association between delay times and maternal age, parity, and ethnic group.
conclusionAbout 74% of women consulted for pregnancy before 10 weeks' gestation but fewer than 5% of women were screened before the target time of 10 weeks. Reducing the considerable delay between pregnancy confirmation in primary care and antenatal sickle cell and thalassaemia screening requires methods of organising and delivering antenatal care that facilitate earlier screening to be developed and evaluated.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.