Pregnancy Test Sherrills Ford, NC

The home pregnancy test has become the go-to tool for women who think they may be pregnant. These tests work by measuring the levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone that is produced by the placenta during pregnancy.

Most tests claim 99% accuracy in clinical studies. But how accurate are they?
Pregnancy tests vary in their sensitivity to the amount of hCG needed to trigger a positive test result. In early pregnancy, the concentration of hCG in a woman’s urine can double every two or three days! For a 95% accurate result on the day of missed menses, a test must be sensitive to 12.5 mIU/mL. According to one study, only 16% of tests were accurate one or two days after a missed period. 1 Yet, highly sensitive tests are often more prone to false positives. Typically, it is better to wait one week after missing a period to take a home pregnancy test, at which time a sensitivity of 100 mlU/mL should be sufficient.

Each pregnancy test will come with specific instructions for how it is to be used and how and when the results are to be interpreted. Test types vary from cassettes and strips that display colored lines to tests with digital read-outs. A recent study showed that women misread cassette and strip tests 30 to 40% of the time. 2 Tests with digital displays are much easier to read and use but are usually a bit more expensive.