Healthy Tips Blog

04 Dec, 2008

How does a pregnancy test work?

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by Alberta Dowse

When a woman has pregnancy signs, she instantly becomes very anxious to find out the truth, whether we’re talking about a desired pregnancy or not. The classic signs of pregnancy are not only old-fashioned, but many times unreliable – that’s why women turn to more professional methods, such as pregnancy tests, and that’s due to the fact that they’re both accurate and they give fast results.

Pregnancy tests have two approaches – the professional ones use your blood to detect pregnancy and are taken in clinics; the other ones(which also have accurate results) are based on urine and can be taken without specialized help. They work by the same principle: they try to determine the presence and the level of hCG(pregnancy hormone) in the body. This substance is produced by the placenta approximately six days after fertilization occurs.

The difference between those tests is the way they are using to detect the presence of hCG: as their name suggest, those blood tests (also called clinic tests) are using a woman’s blood to detect it and those urine ones (also called home tests) are using her urine. As any other hormone, this hCG appears first in the blood and only then in the urine, therefore those clinic tests can give a more accurate result earlier than the home ones. However, the most chosen tests are the home ones, not only because they offer you the possibility to find out about your pregnancy in the privacy of your own home, but also because of their cheaper prices and their important features: most of them have an accuracy level of over 99%, are easy to use, easy to read ( for example those digital ones can give you the result spelled out in simple words: “Pregnant” or “Not Pregnant”) and very fast.

That’s pretty much it – as you can see there’s a very simple principle behind this, and yet it gives a very accurate result. The benefits are fantastic, as any woman can find out on her own whether she’s pregnant or not.

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