Knowledge of Prenatal Screening, Down Syndrome, Amniocentesis, and Related Factors among Iranian Pregnant Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The primary goal of prenatal aneuploidy screening is the early detection of pregnancies at high risk of Down syndrome (DS). The present study aimed to assess the knowledge about the prenatal screening test (PST), DS, and amniotic fluid test (AFT) among Iranian pregnant women.Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2013 to July 2014 in Mostafa Khomeini Educational Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The participants were recruited among pregnant women referred to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic of the hospital for their routine medical evaluations. A total of 471 consecutive women fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. The data collection instruments included a 9-item socio-demographic information form and a 23-item knowledge questionnaire. The latter included 9 items on DS, 10 items on PST, and 4 items on AFT. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 20.0) with the Kruskal–Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. P