News briefs

Online tool to support expectant parents with prenatal testing decisions

An online tool has been launched to support expectant parents in their choices around prenatal testing for chromosome conditions in their unborn baby. YourChoice, created by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and James Cook University (JCU), aims to guide pregnant women through the prenatal testing options and which tests may be best suited for them. The interactive website features a 15‐minute decision aid that guides the user through a series of questions and suggests a preferred testing pathway based on their answers. The results can then be saved to discuss later with a health professional. MCRI's Professor Jane Halliday said the website was designed to ensure women and their partners could have informed discussions with their maternity care provider. “Our decision aid asks women about their values and preferences and provides them with suggested options to discuss with a health professional. There are many different prenatal tests available now, which makes it hard for people to navigate the system. We hope this tool will help women make informed decisions about whether or not to have testing and to understand the range of tests available to them.” JCU's Professor Cate Nagle said the decision aid was not a stand‐alone tool and worked alongside clinical support. “It's not meant to take the place of the doctor or midwife,” she said. “Pregnancy visits can be quick and don't always allow for in‐depth discussions around screening options, which are quite complex to understand. The website provides a summary as well as extra information and resources so every woman can find what she's looking for at her fingertips.”

https://yourchoice.mcri.edu.au/dashboard

Omega‐3 fatty acid could boost IQ for preterm babies

Research from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute has found a link between the omega‐3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and increased IQ among children born prematurely. Preterm children are more likely to have lower IQ scores and cognitive impairments compared with term‐born children. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, followed 323 infants born before 29weeks' gestation, who were given 60mg of DHA/kg/day via enteral or control tube feeding. They were compared with 333 children in the control group, who received an emulsion with no DHA. At 5years of age, children in both groups underwent the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence IQ test. “On average, those in the DHA group scored 3.5 points higher on the IQ scale than those in the control group,” lead researcher Dr Jacqueline Gould said. “These very promising results suggest DHA has the potential to improve cognitive performance when administered via emulsion for infants born before 29weeks' gestation.” Although medical advances over the past 30years have increased the survival rates of infants born before 29weeks' gestation, there has been no improvement in their cognitive development. Supplying DHA to these infants while they are in hospital may be one simple intervention that can help boost brain function, the researchers concluded.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2206868