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Genetic Test May Offer Moms-to-Be Too Much Info

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Every mom-to-be knows that knowledge is power. Which is why many never think twice about prenatal genetic testing. When the time comes for genetic screening, they just get up and go to that next appointment.

Now imagine that you that you can get a very expensive, high-tech test — one that's normally performed after delivery, and only if there's a suspected problem.

Would you have the test? Is getting information about the health of your child before you deliver a good thing... or a nightmare?

If the results of a recent University of Pennsylvania study are any indication, there's a real downside to having too much information too early.

Genetic counselor Barbara Bernhardt, and her team of researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, recently contacted a group of women who were taking part in a larger Columbia University study.

The goal of the Columbia study was to investigate the use of a sophisticated genetic test, DNA microarray, to look for chromosomal abnormalities in developing fetuses.

But Bernhardt wanted to know how the moms-to-be in the Columbia study reacted to news that their child's genetic material contained chromosomal abnormalities. Her study was published online in the journal Genetics in Medicine.

According to the news source Health Day, the women's reactions fell into five general (mostly negative) categories: That the offer for genetic testing was too good to pass up; that the women were blindsided by the results; that they didn't understand the "uncertainty" and the "unquantifiable risks" they were given; that they needed support, and the big one, that the knowledge they got was "toxic".

What makes the DNA microarray test a tricky topic is that while the test itself may be a technical step up from traditional tests that detect changes that lead to disease, the significance of the changes that DNA microarrays identify aren't always clear, according to Penn researchers.

DNA microarray offers the same information after the birth and as it does beforehand. But the test is used after birth when a child already exhibits an unexplained abnormality. Many women who get information early from DNA microarray testing go into a "tailspin," according to the Penn study. And couples are immediately faced with tough decisions.

My heart goes out to parents who receive such results, whether those findings come while a woman is pregnant or after she delivers. Prenatal testing is always a sticky subject, no matter what side of the political bench you sit on. If DNA microarray testing ever gains traction as the go-to test for pregnant women, it'll just pose tough questions a lot sooner.

Do you think DNA mircroarray used prenatal provides TMI? Tell us below in the comments section!

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Nancy Josephson Liff
