Are Home Pregnancy Tests Accurate?

Basics

oi-Anwesha

By Anwesha Barari

Thursday, November 17, 2011, 12:37

What was the standard procedure of detecting a pregnancy a decade ago? Usually a missed period followed by a urine test would be conclusive but blood tests were always more accurate. If you needed an early pregnancy test then it was mostly from symptoms like nausea or mood swings. The coming in of home pregnancy test kits has revolutionised this scenario. Now you can just buy a kit and test yourself at home. Often this can be done even before your first visit to the gynecologist! However, there are always doubts and questions about home pregnancy tests in the minds of first time users.

If you are trying to conceive for the first time then you need to get a clear picture of how these early pregnancy tests work; only then can you be convinced of their accuracy.

How To Use Home Pregnancy Test?

• Most standard kits would include a plastic strip (it is also called strip test) with 'C' and 'T' marked on it, a dropper to collect urine and directions for use.
• All you need to do is put two drops from the first urine of the day on the hollow in the strip.
• Wait for two minutes for the result; the 'C' line will come immediately. If you see a 'T' line appearing slowly then the test is positive.
• The system of indicating could vary as some show pink and blue lines and others indicate via one (negative) and two (positive) lines.

How Accurate Are Home Pregnancy Tests?

• On a scale of 100 you could say they are 80 percent accurate.
• This test works by detecting the hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin ) in the urine. This hormone will be produced only if you are pregnant.
• The degree of the accuracy of the test is determined by its sensitivity to hCG. If a strip can detect even the lowest amounts of hCG then it is more accurate.

Can I Get A False Result?

• It is possible that you are pregnant but the test does not detect it because either it is not sensitive enough or otherwise faulty. May be you do not know how long it takes to conceive and do the test too early.
• However, it is very rare for a test to be positive when you are not pregnant because hCG is a very pregnancy specific hormone.
• It can happen under special situations like if you have just had an abortion or miscarriage (within 3 weeks). You may have taken some medication that contains this hormone recently.

How 'Early' Can This Early Pregnancy Test Detect?

This test can be done within 3 weeks from conception even before you have missed your period. However that would not be a conclusive test. You may get no result or a very faint second line which means that you have to repeat the test after a week.

Home pregnancy tests are a great innovation so use them judiciously.