A paternity test result is very important in the context of the alleged father with the child. The paternity test accuracy, therefore, needs to be precise as a lot depends on the outcome. The results of paternity tests are based on testing specific genetic regions of the alleged father and are then matched with the child. Typically, the DNA that matches with the child’s DNA would mean the alleged father is the biological father and vice versa. The test results are deemed to be 99.9% accurate. It is not considered 100% as in the rarer of cases two random individuals may have the same genetic markers. Due to the inclusion of this probability, the outcome of the results is never considered to be 100%.
Factors that determine accuracy of results after lab test:
The paternity test can be performed in two ways, the exclusion and the inclusion. The exclusion test is considered to be 99.9% accurate; in this test the DNA of both the alleged father and child is tested. If the person is indeed the biological father of the child, the results will indicate more than half of the chromosomes of the baby to match with the father. In this situation, the paternity test would exclude a father with the one who does not have matching chromosomes.
The inclusion test focuses on the likelihood of a person to be the father of a child. Typically, the loci are tested from the withdrawn blood from both the father and child. Accuracy would highly depend on the number of loci tested. Loci are the DNA match points. The inclusion tests that test 16 such loci would necessarily include testing of 16 loci. The tests that include only 13 loci at some of the labs are less likely to yield accurate results.
Accuracy of home DNA tests:
There are certain factors that determine the accuracy of the home-based paternity tests. The DNA testing kits are readily available and almost anyone can do this to confirm parentage. Test results can be compromised if the lab is not experienced in testing the samples. Also, the kit being used for this test also matter a lot. It has been witnessed some labs do not perform a duplicate test and simultaneously there are not accredited by any regulatory authorities. Thus, these results are not admissible in the court of law. Home-based paternity tests, therefore cannot be always considered to be accurate.