Two kinds of common prenatal screening tests for Down’s syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

As the chromosomal examination of foetal cells for the prenatal diagnosis of Down’s syndrome (DS) carries a risk of inducing miscarriage, serum screening tests are commonly used before invasive procedures. In this study, a total of 374 records from PubMed, EMBASE, and the ISI Science Citation Index databases were reviewed. As a result of duplication, insufficient data, and inappropriate article types, 18 independent articles containing 183,998 samples were used in the final systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic performance of the serum triple screening test (STS) and the integrated screening test (INS). Data extracted from the selected studies were statistically analysed, and the presence of heterogeneity and publication bias was assessed using specific software. The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and the area under the curve for the STS were 0.77 (95% confidence interval = 0.73–0.81), 0.94 (0.94–0.94), 9.78 (6.87–13.93), 0.26 (0.22–0.31), 44.72 (30.77–65.01), and 0.9064, respectively. For the INS, these values were 0.93 (0.90–0.95), 0.93 (0.93–0.93), 22.38 (12.47–40.14), 0.08 (0.05–0.11), 289.81 (169.08–496.76), and 0.9781, respectively. These results indicate that the INS exhibits better diagnostic value for DS. However, further research is needed to identify other biomarkers to improve prenatal screening tests.