Pregnancy Test

Pregnancy Test. What Should One Know?

Home testing is the first thing a woman does when she suspects pregnancy. This is the fastest and easiest way to find out about your new state.

The reliability of such tests, however, is far from that of a blood test. Therefore, it’s important to know how it works and how to do the test properly to get reliable results.

The Principles of Work

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a kind of a new life messenger. It is the hormone secreted by the cells of the placenta. Also, pregnancytests work by finding it in the urine. If it is detectedthere, the pregnancy test results will be positive. If not – negative. Still, there is a small chance of you receiving false negative or false positive results.

Unlike beta tests that use blood, home testing cannot determine the precise levels of hCG. Therefore, it answers only one question: are you pregnant or not?

When to Test for Reliable Results?

The amount of hCG and other pregnancy hormones is rapidly growing in the first days and weeks of pregnancy. Still, it’s not until the moment an embryo attaches to the uterine wall that your body begins doubling hCG production day by day. For this very reason, it is impossible to detect pregnancy before implantation.

So when is the best time for testing? Some manufacturers claim their tests are sensitive enough to detect pregnancy 4 – 6 days before your period is due. Regular tests provide 99% accurate positive result on the day of your missed period.

Reasons a Test May Fail

Researchers say that approximately in 5% of cases, women get a false negative result when testing at home. Such a thing usually happens for a number of reasons. We’ve listed some of them below:

  • ectopic pregnancy (in such a case the hormone levels are lower than they should be);
  • you’ve done the test too early;
  • you’ve used the test wrong (like the urine stream got further than it should have, or you checked the result too early).

Whatever the reason for you to test negatively, health care professionals recommend repeating a home pregnancy test after a day or two of waiting, especially if you think you are pregnant. Within this time, it will be easier to detect hCG as the amount of the hormone will get high enough to be noticed. And please, follow the test instructions carefully to minimize the chance of inaccuracy.