Can You Tell the Sex of a Baby by Blood Test
Test Can Tell Fetal Sexual practice at 7 Weeks, Report Says
A simple blood exam that can decide a babe's sex as early as seven weeks into pregnancy is highly accurate if used correctly, a finding that experts say is likely to pb to more than widespread apply by parents concerned near gender-linked diseases, those who are merely curious and people considering the more ethically controversial step of selecting the sex of their children.
The appeal of the test, which analyzes fetal Dna found in the female parent's blood, is that it tin can found sex weeks before than other options, like ultrasound, and is noninvasive, unlike amniocentesis and other procedures that behave small risks of miscarriage. The finding came in a report published online Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Clan.
The tests accept been available to consumers in drugstore chains and online for a few years, just their use has been limited, partly considering their accuracy was unclear. One visitor, which guaranteed 99.ix percentage accuracy as early equally five weeks into pregnancy, filed for bankruptcy later a lawsuit by scores of women whose tests showed the opposite sex of the baby they concluded upwardly having.
European doctors now routinely use the tests to help expectant parents whose offspring are at hazard for rare gender-linked disorders determine whether they need invasive and costly genetic testing. For example, Duchenne muscular dystrophy affects boys, but if the fetus is not the at-risk sex, such tests are unnecessary. But doctors in the U.s.a. mostly take not prescribed the tests because they are unregulated and medical labs are non nonetheless federally certified to use them.
That and other aspects of the pregnancy landscape could change as a result of the new report. The journal study analyzed reams of research on fetal Dna tests — 57 studies involving near vi,500 pregnancies — and constitute that carefully conducted tests could determine sex activity with accuracy of 95 pct at 7 weeks to 99 percent at twenty weeks.
The study "has wide-reaching implications," said Dr. Louise Wilkins-Haug, manager for maternal-fetal medicine and reproductive genetics at Brigham and Women's Infirmary in Boston, who was not involved in the inquiry. "Individuals need to be careful" to ensure that companies use rigorous laboratory procedures and back up accuracy claims with data, she added.
One potential worry is that women might abort fetuses of an undesired sex. Several companies exercise non sell tests in China or India, where boys are prized over girls and fetuses found to exist female person have been aborted. While sexual activity selection is not considered a widespread objective in the U.s.a., companies say that occasionally customers expressed that interest, and have been denied the test. A recent study of 3rd pregnancies in the journal Prenatal Diagnosis plant 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 one company, Consumer Genetics, which sells the Pinkish or Blue exam, requires customers to sign a waiver saying they are not using the examination for that purpose. "Nosotros don't desire this technology to exist used as a method of gender selection," said the company'south executive vice president, Terry Carmichael. Sexual practice-determination tests are part of a new frontier of fetal DNA testing, which can be used to determine paternity and blood blazon, and is being used to develop early on screening tests for genetic diseases or disorders like Down's syndrome.
The new study establish that to be reliable, the sex-decision tests had to be performed after at least seven weeks of gestation. Most tests that were highly accurate were conducted on a mother's blood, not urine. And certain rigorous laboratory procedures had to be followed. For the blood 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, merely could mean that fetal Dna was non found in that sample.
The tests are not regulated by the Nutrient and Drug Administration because they are not used for medical purposes, a spokeswoman said, simply the bureau is investigating the explosion of dwelling house genetic tests like these and genome-sequencing kits.
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Dr. Diana Bianchi, executive director of the Mother Infant Inquiry Institute at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and the atomic number 82 author of the sex-conclusion report, said, "A very important aspect of the written report is how this advances prenatal care."
Simply at that place are potential concerns too, she said, including that women may spend more than than $250 for the tests when they don't take insurance for prenatal intendance. A typical blood test like Pink 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 some other report 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 intendance providers that significant women are buying these tests."
Another type of test not studied by the researchers has become popular considering it is cheaper and can exist washed at home. These tests analyze hormones in women's urine, a method that several experts said has non been studied as rigorously as DNA. Rebecca Griffin, a founder of the biggest seller, Intelligender, said two independent studies institute it 90 percent accurate at 10 weeks.
Another company, TrovaGene, has developed a Deoxyribonucleic acid test using urine, which, according to Gabriele Cerrone, TrovaGene's co-founder and managing director, is 95 percent authentic at predicting boys at seven weeks, and 88 percent authentic at predicting girls. TrovaGene is also developing a test for Down syndrome.
Most DNA tests on the market use blood.
Raylene Lewis, 34, of College Station, Tex., had a frustrating experience with a now-defunct company, Acu-Gen, which guaranteed 99.9 pct accuracy with its blood tests. In 2005, she was told she was having a boy, and she chose a name, bought boy apparel and told everyone. When an ultrasound revealed she was carrying a girl, "I was admittedly shocked," she said. She was non unhappy, she said, but "it was like the baby boy disappeared."
When the Lewises complained to Acu-Gen's president, they were told, "We are very certain that genetically you 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 like on the exterior," but that "we're giving y'all the results on the inside."
Ms. Lewis, who sued Acu-Gen, said she ultimately received a refund. Lawyers for Acu-Gen could not be reached for comment.
The Pink or Blue test, which claims 95 percent accuracy at vii 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 examination she took at seven weeks said she was having a male child, a result confirmed weeks subsequently by ultrasound. Ms. Wallace, who has a 3-year-former girl, said she also would accept been happy with a girl, but that since she and her fiancé could not concur on a boy's name, finding out early gave them fourth dimension to choose the proper noun Layton. Information technology also helped her plan, she said.
"Every bit shortly as I found out I was meaning," 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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