When there is a chance a woman could be pregnant, chances are she wants to know for sure as soon as possible. Early detection home pregnancy tests make it possible to do just that, potentially as soon as five days before her missed period.
Function
All home pregnancy tests work by detecting the presence of pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in a woman's urine. While many pregnancy tests are only accurate after a woman misses her menstrual period, some early detection home pregnancy tests can be used up to five days before the period is due. These early tests can detect lower levels of HCG than regular pregnancy tests, according to the website for the National Woman's Heath Information Center.
How to Use
To take the test, a woman either urinates on the testing strip directly or urinates into a cup and dips the testing strip into the urine. After waiting the amount of time indicated by the directions, typically just a few minutes, she can read the results. Although each pregnancy test can be a bit different in how it displays results, most of these tests have one line for a negative result and two lines indicating a positive pregnancy result. Digital pregnancy tests show "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant" in the display window.
Considerations
Although many women would like to find out if they are pregnant as soon as possible, finding out that you are pregnant very early comes with some emotional risks. Chemical pregnancies, which happen when a fertilized egg attaches to the uterus and begins to make HCG but then stops developing, occur about 30 percent of the time, according to BabyCenter.com. Getting a positive result but then starting a period a few days later because the pregnancy turned out not to be viable can be heartbreaking for many women. By waiting until a week or so after a missed period, a woman may be able to avoid getting her hopes up about a pregnancy that wasn't meant to be.
Misconceptions
Although it is possible to get an accurate pregnancy result up to five days before a missed period with some early detection pregnancy tests, it does not work for all women. Factors like late ovulation or late implantation of the embryo can interfere with the accuracy of the results. Before selecting an early detection pregnancy test, a woman should read the box of the brand she is interested in to find statistics about what percentage of women were able to detect a pregnancy with the test before their missed period. She should then use this information to make the decision about when to test herself. If she chooses to test before her period is due, she may want to consider retesting after her period is due if the result is negative to ensure the result's accuracy, suggests BabyCenter.com.
Warning
Early detection pregnancy tests can be very accurate but may give inaccurate results from time to time. Both false positives and false negatives are possible, although false positives are rare, says BabyCenter.com. False positives usually occur when a woman is taking fertility drugs, has used an expired test or mistakes an evaporation line for a positive result. Evaporation lines are light lines that appear as the urine evaporates from the testing strip, explains PeeOnAStick.com. Although these evaporation lines only occur after the recommended result reading period is over, women who disregard the manufacturer's instructions and read results after a ten-minute time frame may confuse an evaporation line with a positive result. In addition, women who take the test too early or had a later ovulation than expected may be at risk for a false negative, where the test returned a negative result even though they were in fact pregnant. Any woman who questions the accuracy of the home pregnancy test should contact her doctor for a blood test to determine if she is actually pregnant, recommends the Mayo Clinic.
