How soon can you take a home pregnancy test?
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Home pregnancy tests and how they work
Home pregnancy tests measure the presence of a telltale hormone in your urine called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). This hormone, produced by cells from the placenta, first gets into your bloodstream when the fertilized egg implants in your uterus (on average 8 to 10 days after fertilization). The amount of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in your body then increases rapidly over the next few weeks, doubling in amount about every two days.
How soon can you take a home pregnancy test?
There are early prediction home pregnancy tests available that claim to detect pregnancy as early as 6 days past ovulation. But in spite of their claims, most are not sensitive enough to guarantee you an accurate result at this point. By 14 days after fertilization (about the time you would expect your period), most home pregnancy tests may be able to detect the hormone in your urine and give you a positive result. In fact, you're much more likely to get an accurate result if you wait until a week after your expected period before testing.
How reliable are these pregnancy test results?
At-home pregnancy tests are considered to be very accurate with low occurrences of false positives. If used correctly they are about 98% accurate. The standard home pregnancy test is only useful if used on the day of your expected period or sometime after. For best results you are advised to use first morning urine since the levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) will be concentrated and easier to detect. If you get a negative result but still not getting your period, you should wait a few days until your human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels have doubled and try testing again.
Early Prediction Pregnancy Tests
There are at-home pregnancy tests which are more sensitive and can detect lower levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) than the standard at-home test called early prediction home pregnancy tests or early predictors. Since every woman is different and produces different levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), there is not an exact day you can test using an early predictor. These more sensitive tests can pick up levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) starting around 8 days after conception.
However, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is detectible in the blood serum of only about 5% of pregnant women 8 days after conception. So remember, a negative result may in fact be a positive a few days later. Most early home pregnancy tests say they can detect pregnancy about 10 days after ovulation (about 4 days before your expected period). However, the earlier you start testing, the higher chance of getting a false negative. You must confirm your results with blood pregnancy tests to be absolutely sure.
Read our articles on how do blood pregnancy tests work and whether blood pregnancy tests are actually more reliable than home pregnancy tests for more information.
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