Early Pregnancy Tests

Every heterosexual woman knows the anxiety that comes with being “a day late.” Sometimes the anxiety is positive (“Could this finally be happening for us?”), sometimes it is negative (“Oh, no, not now!”). Whatever form the anxiety takes we want early pregnancy test detection that will give accurate results. Some products excellent at early pregnancy test detection. Others, while they may have their own positive attributes, produce little better than random results if used too early in the pregnancy. This article examines two of the more popular tests on the market and how early they can accurately detect a pregnancy.

There are several reasons why a woman would want to know about a pregnancy as early as possible, sometimes even before she misses a period. The most obvious one is that her life may be about to change dramatically and no one wants to wait very long to know what the next eighteen months will bring them. Another reason a woman might want to know very early about a pregnancy is that she had had miscarriages or serious health concerns during past pregnancies and wants to start prenatal care with her physician as soon as possible. Finally, some women want to know early so they can terminate the pregnancy quickly and with as little trauma as possible.

Home pregnancy tests work by checking a woman’s urine for a hormone that is only secreted during pregnancy: human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG. Early pregnancy test detection can be difficult, because during the very early days of pregnancy, there is only a small amount of this hormone in the body. Less sensitive tests may miss it altogether and even the more sensitive tests may produce inconclusive results. This article looks at two of the more popular products and rates them on their ability to catch pregnancies early on.

First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test

This is one of the more popular products used for early pregnancy test detection. It is easy to use and fairly easy to interpret. If you are pregnant, two pink lines appear. If you are not, one pink line appears. This test is 95% accurate if used on the first day of a missed period. Although the product advertises that this early pregnancy test detection system can be used as early as five days before a missed period, evidence shows that the results of First Response Early Pregnancy Tests used this early are only about 69% accurate–in other words, there is a 31% chance of a false negative home pregnancy test. Therefore, women who use this test before a missed period are encouraged to test again in a week or two. This is especially important for women who may be considering abortion or women whose pregnancies tend to be high risk and require complex medical care.

ClearBlue Easy Digital Pregnancy Test

Reading conventional pregnancy tests with their one line/two line or +/- results system can be difficult. Is that one line or two lines bleeding into one? Is that a plus sign or a minus sign with a horizontal scratch? With the Clear Blue Easy Digital Pregnancy Test, the results appear as words: “Pregnant” or “Not Pregnant.” Using the ClearBlue Easy test, a woman won’t have to puzzle out ambiguous results, but she will still have to worry about early pregnancy test accuracy. Although highly accurate (about 95%) if done the first day after a missed period, the early pregnancy test detection results done less than a week before a missed period are only 51% accurate—about the same as flipping a coin.

Women should be aware that, while ClearBlue Easy boasts an accuracy rate of 95% if done on the first day of a missed period, the accuracy rate at four days before a missed period is only 51%–little better than random chance. This means an unacceptably high risk of a false negative home pregnancy test if the test is performed too early.

It’s understandable that a woman would want to know about a pregnancy as soon as possible—even before a missed period provides the first strong clue—but the products on the market at this time simply aren’t sensitive enough to provide accurate information so early. Women will get far more accurate results if they can wait until the first day after a missed period to test for pregnancy.