Currently, the vast majority of pregnancy tests are designed to tell you if there is hCG
detected in your urine. This is given as a positive, yes there is hCG
present, or negative, no hCG is not present. Though various pregnancy
tests measure different amounts of hCG in each test. These numbers can
vary incredibly widely from about 25 miu/ml to 500+ miu/ml of hCG. Just
for reference, above 5 miu in blood is considered a positive pregnancy
test in many labs.
So what do you know about testing hCG levels at home?
That's where the Detect5 Progressive Pregnancy Test comes
in. This test can give you a range of where your hCG is via urine
sampling without having to leave your house. So it will tell you if your
urine hCG levels are at the following thresholds: 25 miu/ml, 100
miu/ml, 500 miu/ml, 2,000 miu/ml and 10,000 miu/ml. This is certainly a
huge advance for pregnancy test technology.
This is still not to the level of a blood test for pregnancy but
is a step in the right direction. We know that hCG follows a fairly
predictable path in early pregnancy. We know that when you stray too far
from that path that something isn't normal - not necessarily wrong,
just not normal. It certainly may be an indicator that you're about to have a miscarriage,
it could also be an indicator that you have more than one baby in your
uterus - twins! Being able to screen for this at home puts a certain
amount of information in your hands.
Is that a good thing? I'm not sure we really know yet.
Ethical Questions about hCG Level Pregnancy Tests at Home
Certainly
for some women, the information will come in handy as they work towards
getting pregnant and monitoring that pregnancy. Will that lead to more
stress? More frantic calls to the doctor or midwife because of misread
tests or misunderstood signs?
Will it mean that the woman is less
likely to seek early prenatal care because she thinks that the test has
given her good information for staying home.
This test is
certainly not the end of the discussion, but rather, the beginning. You
can only imagine what people had to say when the first pregnancy tests
hit the store shelves. I can almost hear the questions now. And yet
today, not 50 years later, we do not even question the existence of the
home pregnancy test.
Sources:
Cole LA. Am J
Obstet Gynecol. 2011 Apr;204(4):349.e1-7. doi:
10.1016/j.ajog.2010.11.036. Epub 2011 Feb 16. Individual deviations in
human chorionic gonadotropin concentrations during pregnancy.
Johnson
SR, Godbert S, Perry P, Parsons P, Roberts L, Buchanan P, Larsen J,
Alonzo TA, Zinaman M. Fertil Steril. 2013 Dec;100(6):1635-41.e1. doi:
10.1016/j.fertnstert.2013.08.031. Epub 2013 Sep 26. Accuracy of a
home-based device for giving an early estimate of pregnancy duration
compared with reference methods.
Korevaar TI, Steegers
EA, de Rijke YB, Schalekamp-Timmermans S, Visser WE, Hofman A, Jaddoe
VW, Tiemeier H, Visser TJ, Medici M, Peeters RP.Eur J Epidemiol. 2015
Sep;30(9):1057-66. doi: 10.1007/s10654-015-0039-0. Epub 2015 May 12.
Reference ranges and determinants of total hCG levels during pregnancy:
the Generation R Study.
Larsen J, Buchanan P,
Johnson S, Godbert S, Zinaman M. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2013
Dec;123(3):189-95. doi: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2013.05.028. Epub 2013 Sep 3.
Human chorionic gonadotropin as a measure of pregnancy duration.
