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Maternal (Expert Forum)
False Positives on home pregnancy tests
Patient medical question and answer from The Maternal and Child Health Forum. Health topic area and articles about newborn care
False Positives on home pregnancy tests
by Mimi__0, Jul 13, 1998 12:00AM
: : Two months ago I tested positive for pregnancy on the first day I missed
: : my period. I retested the next day and the test was again positive. AFter
: : I got my period a week late (I thought I was having a miscarriage), the
: : doctor told me that these were probably false positives caused by some
: : hormone secreted by another gland. I'm trying to conceive and am wondering
: : if I am especially prone to having another false positive (is this something
: : my body will do every month)? At what point do I not have to worry about
: : a false positive. If I do test positive, should I ask the doctor to perform
: : a blood test to confirm? I would rather not wait an extra week or two to
: : know if I am pregant, I lost a baby recently and am already under enough
: : stress.
: Dear Mimi:
: In women who have taken some types of "fertility drugs", the pregnancy test is not reliable around the time of the missed menstrual period. Although some tissues in a non-pregnant lady can secrete human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG, the pregnancy hormone that turns the test positive), the levels are usually so low they are not detected by a home test.
: We now know that one-half of all "conceptions" (fertilized eggs) do not go forward as developing pregnancy. Within this group, a proportion are recognized as "a chemical pregnancy" (a pregnancy in which there is a positive pregnancy test and no other signs or symptoms). Another group are recognized as a delayed menstrual period. Finally, there is the group that is a "traditional miscarriage" in which the pregnancy has been identified by tests such as an ultrasound study.
: If you experience a positive home pregnancy test 3 days after your missed menstrual period, arrange a confirming blood test with your physician.
: Keywords: home pregnancy test.
: This material is provided for information purposes onlyand is not a medical consultation. If you have specific questions, please contact your physician.
Dear Mimi:
A chemical pregnancy means that the hCG levels in blood were detected, were at levels consistent with early pregnancy, and then the levels fall away. Without this "chemical" test, we would never have known the patient was pregnant.
An ultrasound-proven pregnancy is more progessed than a chemical pregnancy: the development of the fetal-placental unit is visible during an ultrasound examination of the uterus.
A clinical pregnancy means that a heart beat was observed during the ultrasound examination and/or the uterus had grown sufficiently in size that it was detected by clinical examination.
The information is provided for general purposes only and is not a medical consultation. If you have specific questions, please contact your physician.
