Market Overview

Prenatal testing is a critical set of procedures during pregnancy in which screening tests detect the risk of possible health issues in the baby and a diagnosis test which affirms its presence. Prenatal tests are the routine tests with non-invasive screening and invasive procedures for the definitive prenatal diagnosis.

In modern perinatology there are many challenges such as chromosomal abnormalities, congenital heart conditions, and malformed kidneys and therefore to overcome the risks during prenatal pregnancy testing is conducted. There are different types of prenatal tests which can be categorized as the first trimester, second trimester, and third-trimester screening and diagnostic tests.

These tests are scheduled according to the days during pregnancy such as nine weeks to thirteen weeks and fourteen to eighteen weeks. Rapid evolving area of pregnancy care has led to the development of new and upgraded screening methods and diagnosis tests. Companies are more focusing on developing tests by a non-invasive approach to aid in detecting of increased number of abnormalities, allowing physicians to charge less.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2012 the U.S. the rate of perinatal mortality was stable, stillbirth affects about 1% of all pregnancies and each year about 24,000 babies are stillborn. Medical care during pregnancy has improved over past decades but some issues regarding prenatal care are unchanged such as the rate of early stillbirth has remained about the same over time.

Creating awareness among countries about prenatal testing will aid in lowering the number of prenatal disorders shortly.

The global market for prenatal testing is segmented on the basis of test type and end user:

Attribute	Details
by test type	First-trimester screening tests Cell-free fetal DNA testing Early ultrasound Cystic fibrosis Second-trimester screening tests Quad Screen Test Amniocentesis Ultrasound Glucose Screening Third-trimester Screening Tests Group B Strep Screening Diagnostic tests Chorionic villus sampling
by End user	Hospitals Pathology Labs Gynecology Clinics Research Organizations

With an increasing number of stillbirths, the prenatal testing market is expected to have sizeable growth opportunity during the forecast period (2016-2024). The major factors driving the growth of the prenatal testing market are increasing awareness about prenatal testing in developing and developed countries, increasing healthcare accessibility in major countries and increasing the disposable income of the population in emerging economies.

While the factors hindering the prenatal testing market are hemorrhage, increasing the number of unsafe abortion, age during pregnancy, obstructed labor, obesity, smoking and more. Noninvasive prenatal genetic testing (NIPT) is gaining popularity in emerging economies which aids in the detection of fetal chromosomal aneuploidies in pregnant women, it has been proved more effective and is encouraged in all countries.

By region presence, the prenatal testing market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. Currently, North America dominates the global market for prenatal testing due to high adoption rate and diagnosis rate, followed by Europe.

The prevalence rate of stillbirths and perinatal mortality is comparatively declining since 2006 due to increasing awareness about prenatal testing. However, factors such chromosomal abnormalities and infections are still causing health problems as observed by the researchers. The prenatal testing market in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa is expected to register high growth due to developing healthcare infrastructure and rising prenatal issues shortly.

Some of the major market players in prenatal testing market globally include Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Sequenom, Quest Diagnostics, Illumina, Inc., GeneDx., Ariosa Diagnostics, Natera, Inc., Ravgen, Counsyl, Inc., Eurofins NTD Inc., PREMAITHA HEALTH and Prenatal Paternities Inc.