To pay privately for NIPT?

[Beachsidesunset]

If, at the age of 45 you got a low risk result for Downs (1 in 900) and Edwards/Patau (1 in 40,000) would you pay privately for the Harmony?

Combined screening is 90% accurate, and NIPT is 99%.

Reasonable - at that age it's always worth double checking.
Unreasonable - the combined test is good enough.

It's entirely personal, related to your own perception of risk. There is no right answer.

Personally I wouldn't unless the combined screening test was 'high risk'.

It sounds like you wouldn't terminate either, but would just like to know for planning.

I'm 32 and paid a few weeks ago, worth every penny to me, got the results in 4 working days when I had just turned 11 weeks.

I think the value does depend on what your decision would be, if you would continue with the pregnancy regardless then probably not worth the extra cost but that wasn't the case for us.

Had the test on Tuesday, got results back on Friday - low risk for all three and it's a little boy. Very pleased we found the money for it!

@Beachsidesunset what did you think about VeraGene please? I am thinking of doing this but I have read that there is apparently a high risk of false positives.

I was 40, got low risk too with the NHS and still paid privately for Nipt. It’s very accurate for the 3 main trisomys - 13, 18, and 21 , although not so accurate for others. My understanding was it is more accurate than the NHS tests for the main 3 and I wanted to know asap.

If you are an older mum to be, would consider terminating ( after amniocentesis to be completely sure obviously) or just want to know early so you have more chance to prepare for extra care etc and can afford the nipt test, it seems daft not to have it to me 🤷‍♀️

Sorry, seen you’ve had it now - congrats!