Home pregnancy tests today are increasingly popular. Accessibility, ease of use and accuracy of the result are the main indicators that women pay attention to. With regard to the latter factor, the truthfulness of pregnancy tests largely depends on their sensitivity.
Principle of pregnancy tests
The essence of the action of absolutely all home pregnancy tests is based on the definition in the body of a woman, in particular urine, the hormone hCG. The hormone index in the absence of fertilization does not exceed 0-5 Mme / ml (provided that the woman does not take medications that artificially raise the level of hCG, and does not suffer from a number of diseases in which hormone production takes place).
In pregnancy after fertilization, the egg is attached to the uterine wall - at this time in the body begins to develop hCG, the index of which increases almost twice every two days. Since the pregnancy test is designed to determine the level of the hormone, the most accurate result will be at the maximum concentration of hCG - not earlier than 2 weeks after fertilization, in the morning.
Test for early diagnosis of pregnancy
Ultrasensitive pregnancy tests are capable of giving a true result even at a hCG of 10 Mme / ml. As a rule, such high sensitivity only have jet tests.
An intravenous pregnancy test can be used on the 7th day after conception at any time of the day. Such tests, determining pregnancy before the delay, are especially easy to use and allow you to see the result in a minute. It is worth noting that the cost of jet tests for pregnancy is several times higher than the price of less sensitive analogues.
Pregnancy test after a delay in menstruation
Pregnancy tests with a sensitivity of 25 Mme / m are intended for use only after delaying the estimated monthly. If you perform the test before - the level of hCG will be insufficient to react with the hormone in the urine. In other words, the chances that this test will show pregnancy before the delay are not particularly high. In any case, if you are doing a pregnancy test before the expected monthly, after a few days it is desirable to repeat it - by this time the level of hCG should grow, and accordingly the result will be believable.
Accuracy of pregnancy test
Many women are interested in how accurately the test determines pregnancy at home. Of course, for complete certainty it is better to take a blood test in a laboratory that will be able to determine pregnancy much more accurately. But, it is worth noting that with proper use, the effectiveness of home tests is about 97%.
In some cases, tests can give false positive
A false pregnancy test can also be shown when taking hormonal drugs or having a tumor. In any case, after a positive test result for pregnancy, you need to contact the specialist who observes you as soon as possible, who will be 100% able to refute or confirm the pregnancy.