How Reliable Is the Blood Test for Baby Sec
Test Can Tell Fetal Sexual activity at 7 Weeks, Study Says
A uncomplicated blood test that tin can determine a baby'south sex equally early on as seven weeks into pregnancy is highly authentic if used correctly, a finding that experts say is likely to lead to more widespread use past parents concerned nearly gender-linked diseases, those who are merely curious and people considering the more ethically controversial stride of selecting the sex of their children.
The entreatment of the test, which analyzes fetal DNA found in the mother's blood, is that it can found sex weeks before than other options, like ultrasound, and is noninvasive, unlike amniocentesis and other procedures that carry small risks of miscarriage. The finding came in a study published online Tuesday in The Periodical of the American Medical Association.
The tests have been available to consumers in drugstore bondage and online for a few years, simply their use has been limited, partly because their accuracy was unclear. I company, which guaranteed 99.9 percent accuracy as early as five weeks into pregnancy, filed for bankruptcy later on a lawsuit past scores of women whose tests showed the reverse sex of the baby they ended up having.
European doctors now routinely employ the tests to help expectant parents whose offspring are at take chances for rare gender-linked disorders determine whether they need invasive and costly genetic testing. For instance, Duchenne muscular dystrophy affects boys, just if the fetus is not the at-adventure sexual activity, such tests are unnecessary. But doctors in the Us generally have not prescribed the tests because they are unregulated and medical labs are not notwithstanding federally certified to use them.
That and other aspects of the pregnancy mural could alter every bit a effect of the new study. The journal study analyzed reams of research on fetal DNA tests — 57 studies involving about six,500 pregnancies — and establish that carefully conducted tests could determine sex activity with accuracy of 95 percent at 7 weeks to 99 percent at 20 weeks.
The report "has wide-reaching implications," said Dr. Louise Wilkins-Haug, director for maternal-fetal medicine and reproductive genetics at Brigham and Women's Infirmary in Boston, who was not involved in the research. "Individuals need to be careful" to ensure that companies use rigorous laboratory procedures and support accurateness claims with data, she added.
One potential worry is that women might abort fetuses of an undesired sex activity. Several companies do not sell tests in China or India, where boys are prized over girls and fetuses found to exist female have been aborted. While sexual practice option is not considered a widespread objective in the United States, companies say that occasionally customers expressed that interest, and accept been denied the test. A recent study of third pregnancies in the journal Prenatal Diagnosis found that in some Asian-American groups, more boys than girls are born in ratios that are "strongly suggesting prenatal sex selection," the authors said.
At least i visitor, Consumer Genetics, which sells the Pink or Blue examination, requires customers to sign a waiver saying they are not using the test for that purpose. "We don't desire this technology to be used as a method of gender selection," said the company's executive vice president, Terry Carmichael. Sex-determination tests are part of a new frontier of fetal Dna testing, which tin can exist used to determine paternity and claret type, and is existence used to develop early screening tests for genetic diseases or disorders like Downward syndrome.
The new study found that to be reliable, the sex-decision tests had to be performed after at least 7 weeks of gestation. Most tests that were highly accurate were conducted on a mother's claret, not urine. And certain rigorous laboratory procedures had to be followed. For the claret tests, women prick their fingers and transport blood samples to labs. If the Y chromosome is detected, the fetus is male. Absence of a Y chromosome would probably hateful the fetus is female, but could mean that fetal Dna was not establish in that sample.
The tests are non regulated by the Food and Drug Administration because they are not used for medical purposes, a spokeswoman said, but the agency is investigating the explosion of abode genetic tests like these and genome-sequencing kits.
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Dr. Diana Bianchi, executive director of the Mother Babe Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and the lead author of the sex activity-determination report, said, "A very important aspect of the written report is how this advances prenatal intendance."
But there are potential concerns too, she said, including that women may spend more than $250 for the tests when they don't accept insurance for prenatal intendance. A typical blood exam similar Pinkish or Blue, for example, costs $25 for the kit. Lab fees and aircraft costs, which vary, bring the full expense to $265 to $330.
Dr. Bianchi is conducting another study to "try to find out why people are buying these things and what are the consequences," she said. "It's very important to educate wellness care providers that pregnant women are buying these tests."
Another type of test not studied past the researchers has become popular because it is cheaper and can exist done at home. These tests analyze hormones in women'south urine, a method that several experts said has not been studied as rigorously equally DNA. Rebecca Griffin, a founder of the biggest seller, Intelligender, said ii independent studies found it 90 percent accurate at ten weeks.
Another company, TrovaGene, has adult a Dna test using urine, which, according to Gabriele Cerrone, TrovaGene'due south co-founder and manager, is 95 percent accurate at predicting boys at vii weeks, and 88 percentage accurate at predicting girls. TrovaGene is also developing a exam for Down syndrome.
Most DNA tests on the market employ blood.
Raylene Lewis, 34, of College Station, Tex., had a frustrating experience with a now-defunct company, Acu-Gen, which guaranteed 99.nine percent accuracy with its claret tests. In 2005, she was told she was having a boy, and she chose a name, bought boy clothes and told everyone. When an ultrasound revealed she was carrying a daughter, "I was absolutely shocked," she said. She was not unhappy, she said, but "it was like the infant male child disappeared."
When the Lewises complained to Acu-Gen'south president, they were told, "We are very sure that genetically yous are having a male," she said, reading a transcript of the conversation, which they recorded. The official suggested that the baby might be "what a infant girl looks similar on the outside," but that "we're giving you the results on the inside."
Ms. Lewis, who sued Acu-Gen, said she ultimately received a refund. Lawyers for Acu-Gen could non be reached for comment.
The Pink or Blueish examination, which claims 95 percent accuracy at seven weeks and gives refunds for wrong results, appears to meet the standards described in the new study.
Chelsea Wallace, 23, of Okeechobee, Fla., was thrilled early this twelvemonth when the test she took at vii weeks said she was having a boy, a result confirmed weeks subsequently by ultrasound. Ms. Wallace, who has a 3-yr-erstwhile daughter, said she also would accept been happy with a daughter, but that since she and her fiancé could not agree on a male child's proper noun, finding out early gave them time to choose the proper noun Layton. It also helped her programme, she said.
"As shortly every bit I found out I was pregnant," said Ms. Wallace, whose son is due in September, "I wanted to know what I was having."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/health/10birth.html
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