Demographic and biochemical risk factors of Down Syndrome in pregnant women: A pilot study in Sylhet division of Bangladesh

Worldwide research in down syndrome have shown that advanced maternal age (˃30 years) at conception, lower folate status and/or impaired folate metabolism, maternal weight gain during pregnancy, low socioeconomic conditions, radiation exposure, use of contraceptive pills, and taking tobacco/smoking are major maternal risk factors for giving birth child with DS. However, the occurrence of those factors in pregnant women at advanced age has not yet been investigated in Bangladesh. Therefore, a large scale study was needed to explore the overall scenario in Bangladesh. This pilot cross sectional study was aimed to determine the serum folate and homocysteine status at advanced age pregnant women. We measured serum folate and homocysteine concentrations using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Out of 70 pregnant women, serumfolate level was low (<5 ng/ml) in 13 (18.57%), intermediate (5-6.9 ng/ml) in 8 (11.43%) and normal in 49 (70%) whereas homocysteine concentrations were found low (<5 ng/ml) in all participants. Finally, questionnaire data indicates, low socioeconomic status, overweight during pregnancy, taking contraceptive pills and taking tobacco/smoking was high