Down Syndrome is congenital-that is, it is present at birth and can even be detected while the child is still in the womb through the use of testing. Two types of prenatal tests are used to detect Down syndrome in a fetus: screening tests and diagnostic tests. Screening tests estimate the risk that a fetus has DS; diagnostic tests can tell whether the fetus actually has the condition. Diagnostic tests are about 99% accurate in detecting Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities. However, because they're performed inside the uterus, they are associated with a risk of miscarriage and other complications.
Although no one knows for sure why DS occurs and there's no way to prevent the chromosomal error that causes it, scientists do know that women age 35 and older have a significantly higher risk of having a child with the condition.
*At age 30 a woman has about a 1 in 1,000 chance of conceiving a child with DS.
*At age 35 those odds increase to about 1 in 400
*By 40 the risk rises to about 1 in 100
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