Taking a home pregnancy test can be exciting and a bit overwhelming for many women. It's important to feel that the test will give accurate and easy to understand results. The digital pregnancy test is a huge leap forward from traditional tests that show results with a line or two, or with a plus or minus. Digital tests, such as Clear Blue Easy digital, do not leave the interpretation of results up to the individual but instead spell the answer out clearly.
Accuracy
Although the Clear Blue Easy digital test, like many others, purports to be over 99 percent accurate from the first day of a missed period, the Mayo Clinic advises waiting longer to be more confident of the results of any home pregnancy test.
Clear Results
One of the benefits of digital pregnancy tests is the clarity of results, according to Americanpregnancy.org. If a test is accurate, but the results are misread, a woman might not get the early prenatal care she requires. The digital test clearly spells out in words, pregnant or not pregnant.
Comparisons
Home pregnancy tests are now very sensitive at picking up pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in urine. The amount of it in urine is referred to as mlU (International Units). The Clear Blue Easy digital test is sensitive enough to pick up 25 mlU. This is about average for home pregnancy tests. Some home pregnancy tests have a sensitivity as low as 20 mlU, while others can only detect 50 mlU or higher, according to Babyhopes.com. However, 25 mlU is the most common, making Clear Blue Easy of average sensitivity.
Considerations
There are things that can affect the accuracy of Clear Blue Easy digital pregnancy test, as well as other home pregnancy tests. When testing before period is due, it's best to use the first morning's urine to test, as the levels of hCG will be most concentrated then. Drinking too much fluid before taking the home pregnancy test can dilute urine and may lead to false negative results, especially when the test is performed early on. Miscalculating the date of expected menstrual cycle can cause a woman to accidentally test too early, and this can also lead to false negatives. False positives are more rare, but can be caused by taking fertility medications containing hCG, by hormones left over from a recent pregnancy, or in some cases by menopause or ovarian cysts.
Warning
If the Clear Blue Easy digital test reports a negative result but after a few days, the menstrual cycle has still not begun, retest. If the test is still negative and the cycle doesn't begin soon, contact a doctor to find out what's going on. In the event of a positive home pregnancy test, contact a doctor as soon as possible to begin prenatal care.
