Home pregnancy test – Things to know

Women who miss their period after having unprotected sex can do a pregnancy test at home to reliably detect pregnancy using testing kits that are available in all pharmacies. Home kits work similar to the urine pregnancy test at a clinic and have 99% accuracy. Rare instances of false negative or a false positive can occur when the test is performed improperly or too early for the kit to detect.

How does a home pregnancy test work?

Pregnancy tests work by checking for an increased amount of the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) at the very beginning of pregnancy, when the fertilized egg implants in the uterus, the production of hCG begins to increase- about 10 days after conception. The home pregnancy test kit, which can be picked up at any pharmacy, is designed to detect the presence of hCG in the urine.

The pregnancy test kits often come as a box that contains 1 or 2 testing sticks that need to be dipped in a sample of urine or held in the urine stream. The pregnancy test kit results would appear on the stick in the form of a plus sign, a minus sign, or parallel lines, or as words such as “pregnant” or “not pregnant,” depending on the manufacturer of the testing kit. The instructions come with the kit and are fairly simple to follow.

When to do a home pregnancy test

The hCG levels in the body begin to increase about 10 days after the conception, and some home pregnancy test kits are sensitive enough to detect it. However, a pregnancy test can be taken any time after the period is missed as they work best around this time. Since the reliability of the testing kits drop when the earlier test is done, it is also possible to get a false negative or a false positive. If the test came out negative and the woman misses her period, the home test can be retaken, or a blood test can be taken up at a clinic for confirmation.

Accuracy of the pregnancy test

After conception, the hCG in the body takes time to build up to be detectable by a home pregnancy test. When taken after the period is missed, there is sufficient hCG in the urine for the testing sticks to detect with an accuracy of about 99 percent. It is also important that the expiration date of the testing kits is checked before buying. Expired testing kits can give unreliable results, which could prolong the detection of pregnancy. Home pregnancy test accuracy also depends on how thoroughly the testing procedure as given in the kit was followed.

Could test results be wrong?

In rare cases, it is possible to get a false-positive or a false-negative. A false positive can occur if there is a pregnancy loss soon after the implantation or from fertility drugs containing hCG. A false-negative can occur if the test is taken too early, the results are checked too soon, or if the urine used is too diluted.

A home pregnancy test is a reliable way to detect pregnancy if the woman has missed her period after unprotected sex. The testing kits come with dipping sticks that detect the presence of hCG in the urine to confirm pregnancy. When done correctly, the tests are 99% accurate.

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