A non-invasive DNA blood test can determine fetal gender as early as 7 weeks, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
For more than a decade now, researchers have demonstrated that fetal DNA is detectable in maternal blood very early in the pregnancy.
Recently, a team of researchers developed fetal gender testing using maternal blood with an accuracy rate of 98.6 percent for females and 95.4 percent for males.Tests done prior to 7 weeks were unreliable.
The testing technique could lead to a 50 percent reduction in the number of invasive tests for sex-specific diseases. Although not yet used in clinical practice in North America, it is more widely available in Europe.
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