Learn more about urine & home pregnancy tests:
When can I take a urine pregnancy test and get an accurate result?
The best time to take a pregnancy test is about a week after your expected period.
Most urine pregnancy tests claim to be "greater than 99 percent accurate" and imply that you can use them as early as the day you miss your period, but a study published in 2004 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology has shown that this is misleading.
The amount of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) — the hormone pregnancy tests measure — in urine on any given day after implantation can vary a great deal from one woman to another.
Researchers at the University of New Mexico evaluated 18 tests and found that only one (First Response Early Result) was consistently sensitive enough to detect the levels of hCG that most pregnant women were likely to have on the first day of their missed period.
Most of the other tests were only sensitive enough to pick up about 16 percent of pregnancies at that point.
How can I get the best results from a urine home pregnancy test kit?
First, check the expiration date on the test and make sure it's still good. If you've been storing the test anywhere that gets moist or warm (like the bathroom), it may have deteriorated, so throw it away and get a new one.
When you're ready to test, read the directions carefully because they vary with different brands. For best results, take the test first thing in the morning, when your urine is most concentrated.
If the test shows a negative result and you still haven't gotten your period, wait another few days or a week and try again. Don't assume that one negative result means you're not pregnant. If you don't get your period as expected, remember that you might still be pregnant (it's no time to go off on a drinking binge or do other things that are unsafe during pregnancy).
Does even a faint line mean I'm pregnant?
If you see a positive result on your test, even if it's very light, chances are good that you're pregnant. For a urine pregnancy test to give you a positive result, your body has to be making a detectable level of hCG and that only occurs as a result of pregnancy. Many women get a faintly positive result if they're not as far along as they expected.
To be sure, take another test in two or three days. If a positive result is more pronounced, congratulations. If the later test is completely negative, you may have had a very early miscarriage. Experts estimate that about 20 to 30 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, so unfortunately this is very common.
Most pregnancy tests say that you can check results in about five minutes, but a study at the University of New Mexico found that in some cases, you may have to wait ten minutes for a positive result.
If you think you're pregnant, go ahead and try our free online pregnancy test or, if you live in the El Dorado, Camden or Magnolia region in Arkansas, give us a call to come by to take a free lab quality urine pregnancy test.
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