[Application of copy number variation sequencing for prenatal diagnosis in women at an advanced maternal age]

To assess the value of copy number variation analysis based on next generation sequencing (CNV-seq) in prenatal diagnosis for women at advanced maternal age.

A prospective analysis was carried out for women who underwent amniocentesis at 18~36 weeks of gestation for fetal CNV-seq for advanced maternal age.

For 1461 unrelated Chinese women with a singleton pregnancy, CNV-seq was performed for all samples successfully. The proportion of chromosomal abnormalities was 2.3% (34/1461), of which 44.12% were submicroscopic copy number variations (<5 Mb).

Pregnant women at an advanced maternal age should be informed for not only common trisomies but all pathogenic chromosomal aberrations. NGS was a sensitive and accurate approach for detecting CNVs.