How Accurate Are Pregnancy Tests
How Accurate Are Pregnancy Tests
How accurate are pregnancy tests
If you are wondering if you are on the family way or not, it would be advantageous for you to learn first how accurate are pregnancy tests and learn the basics of these. No one would want to jump to hasty and inaccurate conclusions due to insufficient knowledge on the use of pregnancy test kits.
In general, there are two types of pregnancy tests available for women who want to quickly learn if they are bearing a baby or not. The first is the blood pregnancy test and the other is the urine pregnancy test.
Blood Pregnancy Tests
The blood pregnancy test, from its name, uses blood samples to detect the presence of human Chorionic Gonadotrophic (hCG). This particular hormone is the indicator of pregnancy used by almost all types of pregnancy tests since it is only secreted during the pregnancy of a woman.
Between a blood pregnancy test and a urine pregnancy test, the former is thought of to be more accurate than the latter. This is due to the fact that aside from detecting hCG in the blood, it can also determine the age of the fetus in the womb of the mother. It can be done since the procedure can detect how much hCG is already present in the bloodstream.
It is believed that the hCG doubles about every two days during the first few weeks of pregnancy. As such, blood pregnancy tests which can quantify hCG amount in the bloodstream can be the best helpful tool in dating a woman’s pregnancy.
Urine Pregnancy Tests
A urine pregnancy test, as opposed from a blood pregnancy test, utilizes urine to detect the presence of hCG. Although the two types of pregnancy tests use both hCG as the primary indicator of pregnancy, urine pregnancy tests are thought of to be less accurate.
The human Chorionic Gonadotrophic, can be found in the blood and is also secreted in the urine. That is why a urine pregnancy test was also developed. Although this method is thought of to be less effective, for some it is more convenient since it is easier to carry out.
Most pregnancy test kits available in drug stores are also in the form of urine pregnancy tests. As such, it is very convenient for women to just buy these kits and then follow the instructions to see if the test will yield a positive or a negative result.
Comparing the mechanisms of the two pregnancy tests, you will now have an idea of how accurate are pregnancy tests.
Deciding which pregnancy test to use
If you have enough knowledge regarding how accurate are pregnancy tests and how the two pregnancy tests work, you can easily decide which among them is more preferable to use.
If you do not like taking blood samples from yourself to detect pregnancy, you can opt to use the urine pregnancy test. But if you prefer taking blood sample than urine sample, as you believe this yields a more accurate result, you can buy and use a blood pregnancy test kit.
However, no matter what kind of pregnancy test you want to use, and if you want to know really how accurate are pregnancy tests, you should never ever forget to read and understand the instructions well so as to use the kit properly and avoid reading the incorrect interpretation of the results. Better yet, a doctor’s diagnosis will give you the most accurate opinion of your present condition.
Also, you might find the video below on how accurate are pregnancy tests fascinating. Check it out!
