NIPS: More Than a Sex Reveal — Screening Results Explained

By Kelly Landucci · Apr 2019

Grey Genetics now offers a streamlined path to NIPS — with genetic counselor support built in, without the wait. Learn more about our NIPS service.

Medical professionals can now predict fetal sex as early as 10 weeks with fairly good accuracy. But the screening test that makes this possible — NIPS — provides much more information than a sex reveal. Understanding what you're agreeing to when you order this test matters.

What Is NIPS?

Non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) begins with a simple blood draw at a gestational age of at least 10 weeks. Small DNA fragments from the placenta naturally circulate in maternal blood. NIPS analyzes this sample to screen for common trisomies and sex chromosome aneuploidies. It is a probabilistic screening test — not a diagnostic one. A positive result does not confirm a diagnosis; a diagnostic procedure (CVS or amniocentesis) is the only way to get a definitive result during pregnancy.

What a Positive Result Means — and Doesn't

A positive NIPS result doesn't mean that termination is the right option, or even that it needs to be an option you consider. Many parents who would not choose termination still prefer to have NIPS and/or prenatal diagnosis done during pregnancy — to prepare, to arrange delivery at a hospital where appropriate specialists would be available, or simply to have time to process. Pre-test genetic counseling can help you understand the range of possible results and what your options would look like in each scenario.