{"id":92732,"date":"2020-03-04T15:20:01","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ivi-fertility.com\/?p=92732"},"modified":"2022-04-12T17:35:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:35:28","slug":"pregnancy-test-false-positives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ivi-fertility.com\/blog\/pregnancy-test-false-positives\/","title":{"rendered":"How to interpret a pregnancy test: are there any false positives?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For anyone taking a pregnancy test, the results are bound to be important, and in some cases, life changing. Whatever your personal reason for taking a test, you need to know that you can interpret the result correctly and that you can rely on its accuracy. So how accurate are the sorts of tests that you take at home? Can you get a false positive pregnancy test<\/strong>, when might you have reason to doubt the result and what should you do in that case?<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, a false positive pregnancy test<\/strong> is very unlikely but not impossible under some circumstances. A false negative is also quite unlikely but it is a lot more common than a false positive. We will look at the reasons for this difference, and start out by explaining exactly how the pregnancy test works.<\/p>\n

How does a pregnancy test work?<\/h2>\n

All home tests work in the same way, although the method of use and the way they display the result can differ. About six days after you conceive, the embryo attaches itself to the lining of your womb. This is known as implantation. At this point your body starts to produce human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), known as the pregnancy hormone, and the levels increase quite quickly, doubling in volume every two to three days. This hormone is detectable in both urine and blood, and it is the presence of hCG that the pregnancy test identifies.<\/p>\n

A blood test taken in a doctor\u2019s office is more sensitive because it\u00b4s able to detect very low hormone values and can identify the presence of hCG earlier than a home kit, as early as six to eight days after ovulation, but for most purposes it is more likely that you will be testing at home with an over-the-counter test kit. Some kits require placing a testing stick in your stream of urine, others need you to collect some urine in a container and dip the stick in, or you may need to collect some urine and draw up a drop in a tube to place a drop on to the test stick. Whatever the method, results will show in one of several ways:<\/p>\n