Home pregnancy tests check for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels in urine, which vary widely in early pregnancy. Levels should double every 48-72 hours, indicating viability. Blood tests are more accurate than urine tests. Decreased or fast-rising levels may indicate a miscarriage or molar pregnancy, respectively. Slow-rising levels may indicate an ectopic pregnancy.
Most home pregnancy tests check the amount of human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, in your urine, as this is the main indicator of pregnancy. While the minimum amount of hCG required for any pregnancy is approximately 5 mIU/mL, hCG levels in early pregnancy vary widely. A pregnancy that is detected very early, about four weeks after the last menstrual period, should have between 5 and 426 mIU/ml. In most pregnancies, this number should double approximately every 48 to 72 hours to indicate viability.
Most home pregnancy tests can detect a level of around 20 mIU/ml, meaning it may be too early to test positive on the day of your first missed period, as levels may still be below 20 by that point. For this reason, many women do not test positive before six weeks of gestation, at which point their hCG level should be between 1.080 and 56.500. Around this point, it should be possible to see a heartbeat on an ultrasound, as it usually requires at least 2,000 mIU/ml to be accurate. It should be known that hCG levels in early pregnancy are often lower in the urine than in the blood, so blood tests are likely to be more accurate and therefore useful for detecting pregnancy less than four weeks after the last menstrual period .
It’s clear that there is a wide range of acceptable hCG levels in early pregnancy, which is why the true indicator of vitality is usually whether levels double as they should. No matter what your starting number, it should double every two to three days, although some pregnancies increase levels at a slightly slower or faster rate for no particular reason. To find out if levels are steadily rising, a woman usually has to go to the doctor to get a blood test and then come back two or three days later to get it tested again.
Decreased hCG levels in early pregnancy usually indicate a miscarriage. On the other hand, levels that rise at an extremely fast rate could indicate a molar pregnancy, which is when a placenta forms without a fetus or a fetus forms incorrectly and doesn’t survive long inside the uterus. Women who have hCG levels in early pregnancy that start out low and rise very slowly may experience an ectopic pregnancy, which is when the fetus implants itself outside the uterus and cannot grow properly. This type of pregnancy usually ends on its own or must be medically terminated to prevent harm to the mother, such as internal bleeding. Clearly, keeping up with hCG levels, especially before six weeks, can tell a lot about how a pregnancy is likely to progress.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
