A woman's decision to know the sex of her child prior to birth

Abstract

Introduction Advances in ultrasound technology have allowed sex determination to be offered to prospective parents during the anomaly scan visit in ultrasound departments. There has been much publicity recently with respect to terminations having been requested based on fetal sex. In other countries there are skewed male to female birth ratios due to ‘wrong sex’ termination, which is usually female. This study has been designed to determine the prevalence of women requesting sex identification and the accuracy of sex determination. Additionally, we have identified demographic and clinical factors, which may be associated with this decision. Methods Ethical approval was obtained from the North West Proportionate Review Board. The study included all 2780 women attending their anomaly scan at Salford Royal Hospital in 2009. From their medical records we have determined how many women requested sex identification, the sex that was predicted and the accuracy of this prediction. We also recorded the women's age, parity, race, religion, and past history of fertility problems. Results The results showed that 74% of women wanted to know the sex of their baby, of whom 1.8% were unable to be told because of the position of the fetus at the time of the scan. Sex determination was correct in 99.4% of cases and there was no significant difference between the identification of males and females. Factors that were significantly associated with an increased desire to know were, being younger ( < 30 years); multiparous; of Afro Caribbean, Eastern European or Chinese origin [chi squared < 0.05]. Jewish women were the group least likely to request the information (32%), along with women aged 41–47 with fertility problems (42%). Conclusion The prevalence, sensitivity and accuracy of ultrasound sex determination have been established in this study and subgroups identified that request this information.