HCG levels increase dramatically during pregnancy and are used to determine pregnancy, but false positives are common. HCG levels can vary greatly and measuring them is not always accurate. Other methods should be used to assess pregnancy health.
HCG refers to the presence of the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone, which undergoes a dramatic increase when women are pregnant. Tests to determine pregnancy often look for HCG levels to hit a certain point, and even without pregnancy, some women have a small amount of this hormone. It can measure at around 200 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). Women taking pregnancy hormones can have much higher starting points in HCG levels and it can be difficult to determine pregnancy, especially in the early stages. In these cases, false positive tests can be quite common.
As pregnancy progresses, HCG levels rise dramatically. In early pregnancy, they can easily double in size every few days. Decreasing levels or levels that do not increase after pregnancy is confirmed could suggest problems with the pregnancy and are sometimes indicators of miscarriage, but could also be an error in calculating the date of conception. Women should understand, however, that measuring HCG is not accurate and that sometimes different laboratories can get different results. Some women’s HCG doesn’t go up that fast and yet results in healthy pregnancies, and falls in levels could mean nothing more than a lab error.
When evaluating charts to determine pregnancy health, women need to know that, especially as pregnancy progresses, there are better methods for determining a baby’s health. Also keep in mind that a single test of HCG levels says very little about a pregnancy. Finally, because levels can vary so greatly in the early stages of pregnancy. they may not date it adequately.
On the charts that can assign normal HCG levels by week of pregnancy, measurements are in mili-international units per milliliter or mIu/ml. Non-pregnancy is often defined as anything below 5 mIu/ml. Within three weeks of the last bout date, the levels could still be 5 or as high as 50. At 4 weeks, it could still be 5 or as high as the mid-400s.
As the weeks progress, the following tier progression may occur:
Week 5: 18-7.340 mIu/ml
Week 6: 1080-56,600 mIu/ml
Weeks 7-8: 7,650-229,000 mIu/ml
Weeks 9 to 12: 25,700-288,000 mIu/mL
Weeks 13-16: 13,300-254,000 mIu/mL
Weeks 17-24: 4.060 – 165.400 mIu/mL
Weeks 25-40: 3,640 – 117,000 mIu/mL
When people look at the progression of HCG levels, it reveals a lot. First, the variance in levels is huge. By week six, women might have a blood serum measurement of 1000, or fifty times that. This should suggest that the HCG test is not an entirely adequate means of assessing pregnancy. It cannot be stressed enough that the norm is truly variable, and pregnant women concerned about this issue should seek advice from their doctors about what other accurate tests can be employed to determine things like due date and pregnancy health.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
