A new national screening strategy has halved the number of infants born with Down's syndrome in Denmark. It has also increased the number of infants diagnosed before birth by 30%, a study has found.

A new national screening strategy has halved the number of infants born with Down's syndrome in Denmark. It has also increased the number of infants diagnosed before birth by 30%, a study has found.

The news comes after research showed that the number of babies born with Down's syndrome has increased since pre-natal screening was introduced in the late 1980s.

The findings, which were published on bmj.com, were released after a BBC Radio 4 documentary this month, which examined attitudes towards affected babies.

Researchers working on a survey by the Down's Syndrome Association and the BBC questioned 1000 association members to find out why so many were choosing to have Down's children despite the availability of pre-natal screening.

Though the figures relate only to England and Wales, Pandora Summerfield, director of Down's Syndrome Scotland, said that they would reflect the Scottish situation.

Danish guidelines on pre-natal screening and diagnosis, issued in 2004, included the offer of a combined test for Down's syndrome in the first three months .

Women whose risk was higher than a defined cut-off point were referred for invasive diagnostic tests. Previously, screening for Down's syndrome was based on maternal age.

Researchers in Denmark found that the number of infants born with Down's syndrome decreased from 55-65 a year during 2000-04 to 31 in 2005 and 32 in 2006.

The number of invasive tests fell sharply and the detection rate improved.