Which women need genetic counseling before pregnancy?

Pre-pregnancy medical examination and consultation can effectively prevent fetal malformation. So which women need genetic counseling before pregnancy? What are the benefits of genetic counseling? How to understand genetic counseling? The following editor will introduce you in detail.

Which women should seek genetic counseling?

Elderly pregnant women (generally refers to those aged 35 years and above);

Pregnant women who have given birth to babies with chromosomal abnormalities;

One of the couple has a balanced chromosomal translocation or inversion;

Women who have given birth to a baby with neural tube defects such as anencephaly;

The amniotic fluid increases too quickly after this pregnancy, and there is suspicion of fetal abnormality;

The female is a carrier of a sex-linked genetic disease;

The couple has a congenital metabolic disease, or has given birth to a sick child;

Women who have received large doses of chemical agents, radiation, or severe viral infections before pregnancy;

Women with fragile X or chromosome breakage syndrome.

Women with a history of unexplained miscarriage, stillbirth, malformation, and neonatal death.

What are the benefits of genetic counseling?

If there is a family history of genetic diseases, will the disease affect their children or the consultant himself; if close relatives marry, what is the possibility of genetic diseases in their children; if a child with the disease has been born in the past and she is pregnant now, can the fetus be tested for abnormalities; are there any preventive or therapeutic measures to prevent the birth and disease of the child, etc. Genetic counseling experts will use clinical examinations, laboratory test results, and professional knowledge to make a correct diagnosis based on the specific situation of the consultant to confirm whether it is a genetic disease. Then they will further calculate the expected possible risk of disease and propose countermeasures or methods to the consultant for the consultant to decide how to deal with it. For the happiness of the family and the health of the next generation, please be sure to have a premarital check-up before marriage, a prenatal check-up before pregnancy, and a prenatal check-up before delivery.

How to understand genetic counseling

There are not many couples who actively seek genetic counseling. They believe that neither they nor their relatives have been diagnosed as genetic patients. In fact, the significance of genetic counseling and genetic testing is by no means limited to whether the couple or the family has a history of genetic diseases. Anyone with any of the above conditions should receive genetic counseling and undergo necessary genetic testing according to the doctor's advice. Some couples have given birth to babies with genetic diseases. During genetic counseling, they misunderstood the correct meaning of the recurrence risk rate. For example, a genetic disease has a 50% inheritance rate. Some couples think that they have already given birth to such a baby, and the inheritance rate will be much smaller when they have another baby. In fact, each baby born to this couple has a 50% chance of suffering from this genetic disease, and the recurrence risk rate will not be reduced just because one or even two such babies have been born.