Ay How Many Weeks Can the Sex of a Baby
Examination Can Tell Fetal Sex activity at 7 Weeks, Study Says
A unproblematic claret test that can determine 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 lead to more than widespread utilize by parents concerned about gender-linked diseases, those who are merely curious and people considering the more than ethically controversial pace of selecting the sexual activity of their children.
The appeal of the test, which analyzes fetal Dna institute in the mother's claret, is that it tin establish sexual activity weeks earlier than other options, like ultrasound, and is noninvasive, different amniocentesis and other procedures that carry small risks of miscarriage. The finding came in a study published online Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
The tests have been available to consumers in drugstore chains and online for a few years, merely their utilize has been limited, partly because their accurateness was unclear. I visitor, which guaranteed 99.ix percent accuracy as early on every bit five weeks into pregnancy, filed for bankruptcy after a lawsuit by scores of women whose tests showed the opposite sex of the baby they ended up having.
European doctors now routinely use the tests to assist expectant parents whose offspring are at risk 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-run a risk sex, such tests are unnecessary. Simply doctors in the U.s.a. more often than not have not prescribed the tests considering they are unregulated and medical labs are not yet federally certified to use them.
That and other aspects of the pregnancy mural could alter as a result of the new study. The journal study analyzed reams of enquiry on fetal DNA tests — 57 studies involving almost 6,500 pregnancies — and institute that carefully conducted tests could decide sex activity with accuracy of 95 percent at seven weeks to 99 percent at twenty weeks.
The written report "has wide-reaching implications," said Dr. Louise Wilkins-Haug, manager for maternal-fetal medicine and reproductive genetics at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the research. "Individuals need to be conscientious" to ensure that companies use rigorous laboratory procedures and support accuracy claims with information, she added.
1 potential worry is that women might abort fetuses of an undesired sex. Several companies practise not sell tests in Red china or India, where boys are prized over girls and fetuses found to exist female have been aborted. While sexual practice selection is not considered a widespread objective in the U.s., 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 establish that in some Asian-American groups, more than boys than girls are born in ratios that are "strongly suggesting prenatal sex selection," the authors said.
At least ane company, Consumer Genetics, which sells the Pink or Blue test, 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 pick," said the visitor'south executive vice president, Terry Carmichael. Sex-conclusion tests are part of a new frontier of fetal Dna testing, which can exist used to determine paternity and blood type, and is being used to develop early screening tests for genetic diseases or disorders similar Down syndrome.
The new report constitute that to be reliable, the sexual activity-determination tests had to be performed subsequently at to the lowest degree seven weeks of gestation. Well-nigh tests that were highly accurate were conducted on a mother'south blood, non urine. And certain rigorous laboratory procedures had to be followed. For the blood tests, women prick their fingers and ship blood samples to labs. If the Y chromosome is detected, the fetus is male person. Absence of a Y chromosome would probably mean the fetus is female person, merely could mean that fetal Deoxyribonucleic acid was not 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, but the agency is investigating the explosion of home genetic tests like these and genome-sequencing kits.
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Dr. Diana Bianchi, executive director of the Mother Infant Enquiry Institute at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and the atomic number 82 writer of the sex activity-determination written report, said, "A very important aspect of the study is how this advances prenatal care."
But there are potential concerns too, she said, including that women may spend more than $250 for the tests when they don't have insurance for prenatal intendance. A typical blood test like Pinkish or Bluish, for example, costs $25 for the kit. Lab fees and shipping costs, which vary, bring the full expense to $265 to $330.
Dr. Bianchi is conducting another report to "endeavor to find out why people are buying these things and what are the consequences," she said. "Information technology's very of import to educate wellness care providers that significant women are buying these tests."
Another type of examination not studied by the researchers has get pop because it is cheaper and can exist done at abode. These tests clarify hormones in women's 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 two independent studies found it xc percent accurate at 10 weeks.
Another company, TrovaGene, has adult a Dna test using urine, which, according to Gabriele Cerrone, TrovaGene's co-founder and director, is 95 percent authentic at predicting boys at seven weeks, and 88 pct accurate at predicting girls. TrovaGene is as well developing a test for Downward syndrome.
About DNA tests on the market place apply blood.
Raylene Lewis, 34, of College Station, Tex., had a frustrating experience with a now-defunct visitor, Acu-Gen, which guaranteed 99.9 percentage accuracy with its claret tests. In 2005, she was told she was having a boy, and she chose a name, bought boy dress and told everyone. When an ultrasound revealed she was carrying a girl, "I was absolutely shocked," she said. She was non unhappy, she said, simply "it was like the infant boy disappeared."
When the Lewises complained to Acu-Gen's president, they were told, "We are very sure that genetically you are having a male person," she said, reading a transcript of the conversation, which they recorded. The official suggested that the infant might be "what a baby daughter looks similar on the exterior," just that "we're giving y'all the results on the within."
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 Bluish test, which claims 95 percent accurateness 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 exam she took at seven weeks said she was having a boy, a result confirmed weeks later by ultrasound. Ms. Wallace, who has a 3-year-old daughter, said she likewise would have been happy with a girl, but that since she and her fiancé could not agree on a boy's name, finding out early gave them time to choose the proper name Layton. Information technology also helped her plan, she said.
"As soon as 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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