Down Syndrome is Not Only a Concern for Older Women

While the likelihood of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome increases with the mother's age, 80% of babies born with Down syndrome are born to women UNDER 35 years of age.  This is simply because younger women have more babies, but also because many women that test for Ds with TripleScreen because they are considered high risk, end the pregnancy because of the diagnosis.  So although women are not considered high risk for Ds or other disorders until after that age there is still a risk.  In fact most of the women and families in our support group are my age (33) or younger!