Experts say national gene bank could lower healthcare costs

Most expectant mothers discover potential problems with the fetus through screenings, whose accuracy ranges from 80 to 99 percent, according to Zhu Haiyan, director of the Prenatal Diagnostic Center at the PLA Navy General Hospital in Beijing.

In the United States, noninvasive prenatal testing, or NIPT, is usually conducted after the 10th week of pregnancy.

In China, however, guidelines issued by the National Health Commission recommend conducting the test between the 12th and 20th weeks to guarantee the blood samples contain an adequate amount of DNA, she said.