Gender test surprisingly accurate, study finds
Source: Agencies |
August 12, 2011, Friday
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BOY or girl? A simple blood test for mothers-to-be can answer that question with surprising accuracy at about seven weeks, a research analysis has found.
Though not widely offered by US doctors, gender-detecting blood tests have been sold online to consumers for the past few years. Their promises of early and accurate results prompted genetics researchers to take a closer look.
They analyzed 57 published studies of gender testing conducted in rigorous research or academic settings, though not necessarily the same methods used by direct-to-consumer firms.
The authors say the results suggest blood tests like those studied could be a breakthrough for women at risk of having babies with certain diseases, and they could avoid invasive procedures if they learned their fetus was a gender not affected by those illnesses. But the study raises concerns about couples using such tests for gender selection.
Couples who buy tests from marketers should be questioned about how they plan to use the results, the study authors said.
The company said it will not sell kits to customers in China or India because of fears concerning gender selection.
The analyzed test can detect fetal DNA in a mothers' blood. It is about 95 percent accurate at identifying gender when women are at least seven weeks' pregnant - more than a month before conventional methods. The accuracy of the testing increases as pregnancy advances, researchers concluded.
Conventional procedures, typically carried out for medical reasons, can detect gender from about 10 weeks.
The analysis involved more than 6,000 pregnancies. The testing used a lab procedure that detects genetic material - in this case, the male Y chromosome. If present in the mother's blood, she is carrying a boy, but if absent, it is a girl.
Tests that companies sell directly to consumers were not examined. Sex-detection tests using mothers' urine or blood before seven weeks of pregnancy were not accurate, the researchers said.
Senior author Dr Diana Bianchi, a reproductive geneticist and executive director of the Mother Infant Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, US, called the results impressive.
She noted that doctors in the UK are already using such testing for couples at risk of having children with hemophilia or other gender-linked diseases, partly to help guide treatment decisions.
The research indicates that many laboratories have had success with the test, but the results cannot be generalized to all labs because testing conditions can vary substantially, according to Joe Leigh Simpson, a genetics professor at Florida International University.
Though not widely offered by US doctors, gender-detecting blood tests have been sold online to consumers for the past few years. Their promises of early and accurate results prompted genetics researchers to take a closer look.
They analyzed 57 published studies of gender testing conducted in rigorous research or academic settings, though not necessarily the same methods used by direct-to-consumer firms.
The authors say the results suggest blood tests like those studied could be a breakthrough for women at risk of having babies with certain diseases, and they could avoid invasive procedures if they learned their fetus was a gender not affected by those illnesses. But the study raises concerns about couples using such tests for gender selection.
Couples who buy tests from marketers should be questioned about how they plan to use the results, the study authors said.
The company said it will not sell kits to customers in China or India because of fears concerning gender selection.
The analyzed test can detect fetal DNA in a mothers' blood. It is about 95 percent accurate at identifying gender when women are at least seven weeks' pregnant - more than a month before conventional methods. The accuracy of the testing increases as pregnancy advances, researchers concluded.
Conventional procedures, typically carried out for medical reasons, can detect gender from about 10 weeks.
The analysis involved more than 6,000 pregnancies. The testing used a lab procedure that detects genetic material - in this case, the male Y chromosome. If present in the mother's blood, she is carrying a boy, but if absent, it is a girl.
Tests that companies sell directly to consumers were not examined. Sex-detection tests using mothers' urine or blood before seven weeks of pregnancy were not accurate, the researchers said.
Senior author Dr Diana Bianchi, a reproductive geneticist and executive director of the Mother Infant Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, US, called the results impressive.
She noted that doctors in the UK are already using such testing for couples at risk of having children with hemophilia or other gender-linked diseases, partly to help guide treatment decisions.
The research indicates that many laboratories have had success with the test, but the results cannot be generalized to all labs because testing conditions can vary substantially, according to Joe Leigh Simpson, a genetics professor at Florida International University.
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