To prevent Down syndrome, the community and family are the most important

This is the 4840th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

Down syndrome is a hereditary birth defect disease that seriously affects the health and quality of the population. It is also known as congenital idiocy and trisomy 21. It is caused by an abnormality in chromosome 21 when the reproductive cells form gametes, resulting in an extra chromosome 21 in the embryonic somatic cells. The incidence rate increases with the age of the pregnant woman. In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly designated March 21 as World Down Syndrome Day, and annual activities are held to remind and promote the prevention and treatment of this disease.

Down syndrome is named after the British doctor John Langdon Down who first discovered it in 1866. The clinical manifestations are: 1. Special facial features, wide eyes, low nose bridge, low ears, and drooling tongue. 2. Growth and development are delayed, and both physical and intellectual development are significantly delayed. 3. Deformities of limbs or organs, such as palmar dysplasia and congenital heart disease. Down syndrome cannot be cured at present. What can be done is functional training and symptomatic supportive treatment to improve the quality of life. The focus of prevention and treatment is pre-pregnancy preparation and prenatal screening for birth defects. Therefore, the most important thing for preventing Down syndrome is family and community.

1. Community Health Service Center

Down syndrome is a key disease for preventing birth defects in the national basic public health service pre-pregnancy preparation and prenatal examinations. This important public health measure to protect the health of women and children is mainly completed in the obstetrics and gynecology clinics of community health service centers. Every family should know and do well. Before the 13th week of pregnancy, they should go to the community hospital to establish a "Maternal and Child Health Handbook" for pregnant women and start standardized prenatal examinations.

2. Preparation before pregnancy

Pre-pregnancy preparation includes three aspects: knowledge preparation, physical preparation and psychological preparation for both men and women. For most healthy couples, pre-pregnancy preparation is completed in the obstetrics and gynecology clinic of the hospital 3-6 months before pregnancy. Obstetricians and gynecologists investigate and analyze the genetic background, living environment and physical and mental health of both husband and wife through medical history, physical examination and necessary auxiliary examinations, assess their risks of having a healthy baby, decide on the intervention measures that need to be implemented, promote favorable factors and prevent unfavorable factors, and take the first step to ensure the health of children.

Standardized pre-pregnancy preparation is the obstetrician and gynecologist using existing scientific evidence to give couples better pregnancy advice and necessary intervention measures based on comprehensive analysis of their clinical data. It includes preparation for daily life and folic acid supplementation. Folic acid is a nutrient in the vitamin B group, also known as vitamin B9.

Folic acid is an essential substance for fetal growth. Timely supplementation of an appropriate amount of folic acid during the preparation for pregnancy and pregnancy can effectively improve the quality of the fertilized egg and the fetus, help prevent diseases such as neural tube malformations, Down syndrome, congenital heart disease and cleft lip in infants, and can also prevent premature birth and megaloblastic anemia during pregnancy.

Author: Qingpu Branch of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University

Pediatrics Chief Physician Xu Lingmin