Get answers to top questions about Orchid — what’s in the report, what you can do with the information gained, how accurate are the results, and what impacts the cost of the test. 

What’s in the report? 

Our Couple Report tells you if your future child is expected to have an elevated or normal genetic risk to 10 top chronic diseases, based on you and your partner’s DNA. 

Genetic risk impacts the risk of developing conditions at some point in an individual’s life. The report tells you the lifetime risk of each disease, and how that compares to the general population. Since there are many possible ways you and your partner’s DNA can combine, your future child’s results are reported as a range instead of as a single number.

Based on the Couple Report, you can better answer the question “if we were to consider embryo screening, by how much can I decrease my future child’s genetic susceptibility to disease?”

If your child is expected to have an average risk of developing the conditions tested, we do not expect any additional risk reduction benefits from embryo screening for these conditions. 

If the chance your future child has an elevated genetic risk to a specific condition is higher, we outline that there are preventative measures for your family to consider, with embryo screening being one of them. 

All reports include commonly asked questions and answers about results as well as access to helpful patient resource guides. 

Lastly, we know that navigating this type of information can be at times daunting and overwhelming, so your reports come with a personalized video walking you through your results (not some sample report) from a board-certified genetic counselor. You also have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss one-on-one with a genetic counselor about your results at any time.

What can be done if there is an increased risk that’s discovered? 

Knowing you and your partner’s genetic risks helps you optimize your family’s health — bringing more information and clarity that families had no way of knowing before. 

If your Couple Report shows that your future child has an increased genetic predisposition to a condition, you have options about how you want to use this information, and actions can be taken to mitigate those risks. 

Tailor your family’s diet, fitness, and health.

Orchid results can help you better prepare for the future through personalized preventative measures and increased awareness. Healthy lifestyle changes can offset genetic risks to these chronic conditions and being able to measure these risks puts you one step ahead of the game. 

Choose to mitigate your future child’s genetic risks through follow-up embryo testing.

If your future child can have an elevated genetic risk of a condition, one option is to choose to lower your future child’s genetic risk through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and follow-up embryo screening. By determining each embryo’s genetic risk for certain conditions, you can elect to prioritize transferring embryos with the lowest genetic risk.

How accurate, reliable, and predictive are the results? 

At Orchid, we take the role we play in delivering clinical-grade information to you at this life-altering milestone in your life seriously. When it comes to you and your family’s health, “close enough” doesn’t cut it. From sample processing to result generation, we’ve refined each step to ensure our test is as robust and accurate as possible. 

Our sequence data is over 99% accurate across the entire genome.

Orchid ensures quality sequencing through clinical-grade laboratory testing that uses Illumina-based platforms. This means genetic markers are correctly identified in each sample we run. 

Results are processed in a CLIA and CAP-certified laboratory. 

Your results are processed in a CLIA/CAP certified laboratory, the same standards trusted by the largest academic medical centers and physicians. Being CLIA-certified means that the laboratory meets federal government quality regulations for running tests used by doctors and patients. This ensures every test is processed to the highest quality standards. 

Results are backed by peer-reviewed, reproducible case-control studies. 

People with the highest percentiles of genetic risk for a condition are 2 to 5 times more likely to develop it compared to average. Large-scale genetic studies have shown quantifying genetic risk accurately identifies people who are more likely to develop a disease — critical information that can be easily missed by looking at family history, routine blood tests, or traditional genetic testing alone. These findings have been consistently demonstrated and validated through aggregated data from hundreds of thousands of individuals.

‍We continually review the latest research in genomics — identifying results that meet our stringent quality standards. We only incorporate results reproduced by several research groups and based on population sizes of more than 10,000 individuals.

Top doctors and scientists helped create our test, and all results are approved by a physician. 

We’ve partnered with top reproductive medicine doctors and statistical geneticists to help validate our technology. We are trusted by leading fertility clinics like Stanford and all results are approved by independent physician review to ensure accuracy and appropriateness of the ordered test.

Why is Orchid so expensive? 

Investing in protecting the health of your family is the smartest investment anyone can make. At Orchid, we don’t believe in cutting corners when delivering such critical information to you.

We sequence 100% of you and your partner’s genome — not just 2% for one partner like other tests.

Best-in-class results start with high-quality, comprehensive data. We use whole genome sequencing to analyze 100% of you and your partner’s genome — over three billion base pairs of DNA found in humans — to provide the most advanced genetic risk assessment available. 

In comparison, most genetic tests only read less than 2% of only one person’s entire genome, hand-picking specific locations to analyze. While sequencing only a portion of the genome would cut down on our cost, the reality is quantifying genetic risk for the top chronic diseases for your future child can only be done by collectively assessing the whole genetic landscape — looking at many genes and genetic markers across the entire genome for each condition.

That’s why we need to sequence and analyze you and your partner’s entire genome to predict your future child’s genetic risks, not just a small fraction of it. 

Read more about how different genetic testing approaches impact cost. 

Explore more from Orchid Guides 

• 23andMe vs. Orchid: what’s the difference? Consumer genetics explained by a genetic counselor
• The ultimate guide to genetic testing before pregnancy: actionable advice for couples
• A board-certified genetic counselor explains what genetic risk means — and what testing can tell you
• Can embryo screening reduce your child’s genetic risks?
  

Today, advanced preconception genetic testing is now available to couples who want their child to have the best shot of a healthy life. Explore how Orchid helps you conceive with confidence.