Doctors' attitudes towards invasive prenatal diagnosis

To assess the influence of a doctor's gender, age group, religion and invasive prenatal diagnosis (PND) knowledge on their attitude towards invasive PND.

All non-obstetric and gynecologic doctors were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire enquired about demographic information, and doctors' knowledge, attitude and experience regarding invasive PND for themselves, and their spouses, relatives, friends, colleagues and patients.

Responses from the 289 respondents revealed that two-thirds of respondents knew only a little about invasive PND. Most males and females were in the 31-39 and < or =30-year-old groups, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in gender, age group, religion and invasive PND knowledge when recommending of invasive PND. If fetal anomalies were detected, most of the females in the Buddhist group (P < 0.05), males with quite a lot of PND knowledge group (p < 0.05) and younger doctors group (P < 0.05) would their own terminate pregnancies, or those of wives and relatives.

Attitudes towards invasive PND and pregnancy termination was influenced by gender, age group, religion and PND knowledge. Females and younger doctors from both gender groups tended to recommend the termination of pregnancy if they found fetal anomalies.