Pregnancy testing - false positive pregnancy test

Pregnancy tests

When a woman notices certain symptoms that are typical of pregnancy and when she believes that she is pregnant, she can detected it by the means of various pregnancy tests. There is a hormone produced in a woman’s body only in pregnancy and when the urine shows its presence, it is the sign of pregnancy.

Human Chorionic gonadotropin hormone is manufactured by placenta only when the egg is fertilized. A few days after the conception, the levels of this hormone in the urine are very low and almost undetectable, so it is recommended to do the pregnancy test at least 8 days after the possible conception. It is estimated that home pregnancy tests are accurate in 99% of cases if they are used according to the instructions.

False positive pregnancy tests refer to the positive results on the test even when there is no pregnancy. This happens very rarely but may be caused by several reasons.

Causes of false positive pregnancy tests

A pregnancy test may show the wrong result if it is not done in a proper time. As we have already mentioned, the test should be done minimum eight days after the conception, and only the first urine should be tested because it contains the concentrated amounts of the hCG hormone. Sometimes it happens that this hormone is secreted by some other tissues that are not placenta and therefore, it is recommended to repeat the test after two days since in the case of pregnancy, the level of this hormone should be decreased significantly. There are various types of the home pregnancy tests and since they work differently, it is advisable to follow the instructions carefully. It happens that the women just do not follow the instructions or that they do not know how to read the results and when to read them. Furthermore, when a woman tests her urine for the presence of hCG, it is important to read the results within the time given in the instructions since there is a limited evaporating time after which the results are not valid. This time is usually five minutes after testing, while any results achieved afterwards cannot be regarded as accurate. The women who take certain medicines that contain hCG are likely to have false positive pregnancy test result. The medicines with this hormone are usually prescribed for those women who treat infertility and therefore, especially these women should know this fact.