Commentary: Cost effectiveness of antenatal screening for cystic fibrosis

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Abstract
As a clinical geneticist commenting on this paper I will consider some assumptions made by the authors and the context in which antenatal screening for cystic fibrosis might be carried out. There are four aspects of this study that raise important questions. The first concerns the provision of information before the test and the influence of this on the uptake of testing. From the reports of (non-pregnant) population screening for cystic fibrosis in Britain, the mode of invitation seems to be a major influence on most people's decisions about testing. For example, uptake after invitation by letter has been about 9-12%; after active opportunistic invitation to an appointment for counselling and testing 25%; and after opportunistic invitation to on the spot testing 66-87%.1 2 This can be interpreted as the compliance of and uninterested public in the face of professional enthusiasm for testing. Given this background, how are we to understand the high rates of uptake reported in prenatal …

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