Pregnancy test accuracy is a bigger factor in choosing a pregnancy test. Many women want to know that a pregnancy test is accurate, but few want to go into detail on what makes a pregnancy test accurate. To understand pregnancy test accuracy however, is very important to learn when choosing the correct pregnancy test for you.
There are many factors that go into pregnancy test accuracy. A woman must be (on average) between 8 days after her ovulation and 16 days after ovulation. Testing earlier than this time period will give you a false negative on your test because the hormone hCG will not yet be present in your urine or blood. If your ovulation is not close to the average (14th day of your cycle) than your time period to test will most likely change. Later ovulation dates change the chance for pregnancy test accuracy to dates closer to your expected period.
Another factor effecting pregnancy test accuracy is the sensitivity of the pregnancy test you are using. Early detection pregnancy tests are more sensitive (only a small amount of hCG is required in your urine) than average tests. Some only need about 20 mIU/hCG to activate while others can only detect the hormone at 50 mIU/hCG.
One of the last factors that may affect pregnancy test accuracy is human error. Carefully reading and re-reading instructions is very important when it comes to accuracy of pregnancy test . Not all pregnancy tests are the same and may require more or less steps than you may be used to.