Table 2 Summary of key findings

Accuracy of technology

Almost unanimously the most important factor for healthcare professionals.

Also important to women but they will sacrifice accuracy for safety e.g. reduced risk of miscarriage.

When test/screening occurs

When the test occurs is a significant factor in women’s choices for screening. However, clinicians value this attribute much more. Some authors hypothesise this is because women are uninformed about the consequences of late testing (for treatment/termination choices).

Level and/or type of information

This is very mixed, with some studies finding more information to be of negligible/no value and others finding it highly valued. The studies which considered this attribute were sometimes unlabelled (test A etc) or sometimes labelled (karyotyping, rapid aneuploidy detection) so women may think more information means more invasive or more painful screening procedures?

Time to results

This is generally important in women’s decision to participate in screening however it is generally of low value. For a very small proportion of the population, this has been found to be the most important factor.

Cost

Only included in a few studies but is highly important to a large price sensitive part of the population.

Risk of harm

Almost unanimously the most important factor to women. Almost all studies find this is highly valued compared to other attributes.

Preference heterogeneity

Some studies have found heterogeneity between healthcare professionals and women whereas others have found preferences to be homogeneous. Differences in preferences may not exist due to the analyses conducted by authors.