Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Feb;43(2):226-234.
doi: 10.1002/pd.6217. Epub 2022 Aug 27.

Ethical issues associated with prenatal screening using non-invasive prenatal testing for sex chromosome aneuploidy

Molly Johnston  1 , Chanelle Warton  1 , Mark D Pertile  2 , Michelle Taylor-Sands  3 , Martin B Delatycki  2 , Lisa Hui  3 , Julian Savulescu  4 , Catherine Mills  1
Affiliations
Review

Ethical issues associated with prenatal screening using non-invasive prenatal testing for sex chromosome aneuploidy

Molly Johnston et al. Prenat Diagn. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Prenatal screening for sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs) is increasingly available through expanded non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). NIPT for SCAs raises complex ethical issues for clinical providers, prospective parents and future children. This paper discusses the ethical issues that arise around NIPT for SCAs and current guidelines and protocols for management. The first section outlines current practice and the limitations of NIPT for SCAs. It then outlines key guidelines before discussing the ethical issues raised by this use of NIPT. We conclude that while screening for SCAs should be made available for people seeking to use NIPT, its implementation requires careful consideration of what, when and how information is provided to users.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Lo YMD, Corbetta N, Chamberlain PF, et al. Presence of fetal DNA in maternal plasma and serum. Lancet. 1997;350(9076):485-487. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(97)02174-0
    1. McLennan A, Palma-Dias R, da Silva Costa F, Meagher S, Nisbet DL, Scott F. Noninvasive prenatal testing in routine clinical practice - an audit of NIPT and combined first-trimester screening in an unselected Australian population. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2016;56(1):22-28. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajo.12432
    1. Ravitsky V, Roy MC, Haidar H, et al. The emergence and global spread of noninvasive prenatal testing. Annu Rev Genom Hum Genet. 2021;22(1):309-338. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-genom-083118-015053
    1. Bianchi DW, Parker RL, Wentworth J, et al. DNA sequencing versus standard prenatal aneuploidy screening. N Engl J Med. 2014;370(9):799-808. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa1311037
    1. Chandrasekharan S, Minear MA, Hung A, Allyse M. Noninvasive prenatal testing goes global. Sci Transl Med. 2014;6(231):231fs15. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.3008704

LinkOut - more resources