When can a pregnancy test give an accurate result?

     Most women, when they want to check a possible pregnancy, choose the home pregnancy tests because they are cheaper than the clinic ones and they offer them the possibility to find out if they are pregnant or not in the privacy of their own homes. But after the decision to take a home test, they should also decide when to take it because there is no doctor who could tell them; therefore one of the most frequent questions is: “When can a pregnancy test be taken so that it can give an accurate result?”.

     For this, you can follow the doctors’ recommendation and take the test 2 weeks after the moment you think you have conceived. For the most accurate result, you can also follow the test’s directions and take it the day you have missed your period (that if you have a missed period). But most women are too anxious to wait that long so the “How early can a pregnancy test give an accurate result?” question raises.

     To better understand which could be the earliest moment you can take a pregnancy test, you should know how these home tests work, very simple: they have to detect the presence and levels of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in a woman’s body using her urine. This hCG, also called pregnancy hormone, appears in her body only when she gets pregnant and it is produced by the placenta after a fertilized egg implants the uterine wall(which happens at least 6 days after ovulation). So if you take a pregnancy test during those 6 days it will give you a negative result(even if you are indeed pregnant), as there is no hCG to be detected yet. Therefore, the earliest moment you can take a pregnancy test, having the possibility of getting an accurate result, is the 7′th day after ovulation (after the moment you consider you have conceived).

     As a conclusion, the question “When can a pregnancy test give an accurate result?” has many possible answers: 2 weeks after the moment you think you have conceived – by the doctors recommendation, the day you have missed your period – by the tests’ directions and the 7′th day after the moment of conception – for the earliest moment; but you shouldn’t take this as a rule because women’s bodies are different and act differently. If you want a rule, go for this one: the later you take the test, the more accurate the result is.

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1. How to test for pregnancy?
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3. Pregnancy test at home
4. When can I take a pregnancy test?
5. Is a pregnancy test accurate?