Early Pregnancy Tests are pregnancy tests that are very sensitive when it comes to detecting hCG or human chorionic gonadotropin. The more sensitive your pregnancy test is to hCG the early it can detect whether or not you are pregnant.
Most early pregnancy tests give you a promise of being able to detect hCG 3 to 5 before your missed period. Although they do have stats that can back up this claim, these statistics are only for the average woman with an average menstrual cycle (which how many woman do you know are actually like that?). So, if you have a later ovulation date, your testing window might be later than an average woman. That means an early pregnancy test might only detect something the day before your missed period, or even the day of. So make sure you educate yourself before jumping to any conclusions.
Unfortunately one of the worst parts of using early pregnancy tests is discovering a “chemical pregnancy”. A chemical pregnancy is one where you have conception, the egg is implanted into the uterus enough to produce a level of hCG (which will turn the early pregnancy test positive), but one that is destined not to continue. In most instances, a chemical pregnancy is never noticed, because the miscarriage occurs at the same time the woman’s period would be due. So the miscarriage could actually could be masked as a period if someone did not administer an early pregnancy test. Research indicates that up to 50% of pregnancies actually are lost. A general rule of thumb is the longer you are pregnant for, the lower your chances of miscarriage. So women that test super early using an early pregnancy test runs the risk of getting excited over a pregnancy that isn’t meant to be.
Early Pregnancy Tests Comparison:
As science moves on, there have been great advances in the early pregnancy test however. Below is a list of the more popular brands of early pregnancy tests and their sensitivity levels (remember lower is better!)
AimStrip Pregnancy Test (AimStick) = 20mIU
Accu Clear Pregnancy Test= 25mIU
Answer Pregnancy Test = 25mIU
Clearblue Easy Pregnancy Test +/- = 25 mIU
Clearblue Easy Digital Pregnancy Test = 25 mIU
CVS Pregnancy Test = 25mIU
EPT Pregnancy Test = 25mIU
Equate Pregnancy Test = 25mIU
Fact Plus Pregnancy Test = 25mIU
First Response Pregnancy Test = 25mIU
Target Brand = 25mIU
Clear Blue Digital = 50mIU