NIPT fetal fraction

[Cloudyapple93]

Has anyone here got any experiences of NIPT fetal fraction being below 5%? If so, could you share whether the results you were given were correct?

Mine were below 5% and whilst everything came back “very low risk” I’m falling into a google hole and wondering just how accurate those results are. I’m also wondering whether the “girl” verdict we were given is correct either.

Bumping

I have had nipt with all three of my pregnancies (just awaiting the results of my third). It looks at the babies dna in your blood. So they have detected only female dna in your blood, so the chance of it being a boy I would say is very very low. Because there is no male dna in your blood. I’ve just been looking at my reports and I can’t see fetal fraction at all on mine

Thank you for the reply! Interesting on the fetal fraction part. When was your second NIPT conducted? The reason I’m worried about mine is I don’t think my percentage of fetal fraction is very high, being below 5% means there wasn’t a lot of baby DNA to look at (although, enough to conduct the test) I’ve just been reading stories of people having false positives and also the gender changing down the line, from girl to boy, because potentially not having enough Y chromosome in the blood to be detected. Ahhh!

I have a private scan tomorrow to hopefully confirm a few things as I’m driving myself crazy x

I can’t remember for definite but mine was 4 or 5%. I was told we were low risk and I was having a girl, both turned out to be accurate and I now have a gorgeous whirlwind of a DD.

Nipt can be done over 2% but over 4% is considered accurate so don't stress at 5%

Thank you so much for this. All I’m finding online is the opposite and I’m worrying 🙁 so it’s good to hear a good story! Mine came back at 4.5% so really hoping that they did genuinely get enough DNA to check everything properly. I’m also half convincing myself there is actually a boy in there, there just wasn’t enough Y chromosome picked up in my blood 🤣

Really? Over 2% on all of them? I did the “veracity” one but I can’t find enough information online about it. My results were 4.5%, at 14 weeks too 😔

Aww it’s such a stressful time I know, but try not to worry. The tests are 99% accurate when it comes to identifying sex after 10wks, so while you could be the rare 1% it’s unlikely.

Being the anxious type, especially when pregnant, I mostly found google just fuelled my fears as people rarely post when things are going well and fine, so you’ll always find the horror stories. In the end I used to get my eminently more sensible DH to google anything that was niggling at me so he could run it through his logical filter first and save me the stress of going down endless rabbit holes 😂

I was exactly the same - i got 7% and convinced myself last week it's inaccurate. I think it's just a symptom of our pregnancy anxieties! They would make us re-test if we needed too I'm sure!

I personally felt quite underinformed about the fetal fraction - i didn't know what it was until i saw it on the results and googled it. My clinic didn't mention it either!

I'm also low risk with a girl.

I'm not sure on the exact tests but it is possible but generally they want 4% minimum so will ask for a redraw if below that. If they didn't think it was accurate they would have asked for a redraw of bloods rather than give you an inaccurate answer

Please stop stressing

I agree, I had NO idea about FF either. I got the results back and was overjoyed, sharing the news sooo excitedly to and getting probably too excited about having a girl, until I referred back to the email a day later and noticed FF 🤔 then fell into the rabbit hole. Like you say, I wish there was more counselling on the FF part. Have you had your baby yet or your 20 week scan etc? Are you more comfortable/have further confirmation with the results?

They give you an "inconclusive result" if they haven't got enough to te test. They don't just guess. You have no reason to worry.

I only got it back last week and I'm only 11+2 so I have a way to go until my 20 week scan.

I'm the same though - I was over the moon when I saw I was having a girl but then immediately started doubting it as felt too good to be true! I messaged my friend who had also had the nipt test last year saying it was a girl (and it was accurate) that I was worried it was wrong. She was like you're being silly I didn't doubt it for one minute!!

I might not tell most other people until 20 weeks though...just in case!!

Updating just in case anyone else in future does the same google nose dive that I’ve done… I’ve just been to a private gender scan as I’m over 16 weeks now, and there were definitely girl bits. I got the sonographer to double confirm that’s what they were seeing 😂 they also did a once over of their body and all looked good (but obviously not as detailed as the anatomy scan will be) but I feel relieved gender-wise! I know it’s never 100% until you can physically see them, but I feel like I can actually celebrate we’re having a girl. Now just for the anatomy scan to get the health all-clear 🤞🏻

I think you can remain confident that if my FF was under 5% and thus far, seems like the test was reliable, that with yours being 7% you should be all good. Keep us updated 🩷🥹

Thank you for the the update - so pleased you got it confirmed you're having your girl!

I'll let you know how I get on! 💕

Updating if anyone checks this old thread. My baby was also confirmed as a girl at 20 weeks and low risk was assume it was all still accurate at 7 %😀

Oh amazing @RobynC28 💜 lovely to hear from you! How you feeling?

I’ve had 3 more scans since my last post (NHS 20 week, private at 25 and also an NHS growth scan at 28) and all of them have reconfirmed all is well, and that there’s a girl in there. So I think I’m finally able to accept there are not developmental issues and that we’re having a girl 😂

I have a 32 week scan soon so I’ll probably ask for a quadruple confirmation. So hopefully this helps anyone else who gets given a 4.5% fetal fraction result and ends up in google hole - it can still be accurate x