Earliest Pregnancy Test: How Soon To Test for Pregnancy?

HCG pregnancy test uses the urine sample of the woman to detect the presence of the HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin) to determine pregnancy. After the fertilized egg gets implanted in the uterine lining the developing placenta secretes HCG which is a glycoprotein hormone.

The unit of measuring the HCG clinically is thousandths of international unit or mIU. Earliest pregnancy test having sensitivity of 20 mIU/ml are more sensitive than test with sensitivity of 50 to 100 mIU/ml. Earliest pregnancy test brands will use mIU as a standard measure to display their sensitivity. The earliest pregnancy test detects the level of HCG in the urine at as low as 20 mIU or in 8 days after the implantation of the egg in the uterine cavity.

How Soon Can I Carry Out Earliest Pregnancy Test?

In a pregnant woman the level of HCG should be 25 mIU at 10 dpo (days past ovulation), 50 mIU at 12dpo, 100 mIU at around 2 weeks. Pregnancy can also be determined by blood test as low as between 5 to 10 mIU/HCG.

For carrying out earliest pregnancy test it is necessary to use first morning urine as it contains the most concentrated amount of HCG. If you are not able to use first morning urine then do not urinate for several hours before carrying out earliest pregnancy test. This is because frequent urination or diluted sample contains less amount of concentrated HCG thus interfering with the result of earliest pregnancy test.

What Does a Faint Line on the Earliest Pregnancy Test Indicate?

If you are using earliest pregnancy test to find out whether you are pregnant, then a faint line or color band on the test indicate that the test results are positive as long as the test reading are noted within the allotted time which is usually 5 to 10 minutes. If you carry out the earliest pregnancy test properly and note down the result carefully then the faint line is visible and is very likely a positive earliest pregnancy test.

Explanations on faint positive line are given below.

1. It may happen that you may carry out earliest pregnancy test soon after conception, but at these times the amount of HCG is low for test detection. The amount of HCG doubles after every two days and so carries out the test again using first morning urine.
2. Different earliest pregnancy test has different intensity of faint line. So faint line in one test may appear stronger on a 20mIU/ml test.
3. First morning urine is recommended for earliest pregnancy test due to high concentration of HCG hormone. Frequent urination reduces the HCG concentration affecting the result of pregnancy test.
4. Sometimes early pregnancy is detected but later the test results are negative because the implantation of the egg is followed by miscarriage. This is called as chemical pregnancy and miscarriage occurs even before the other pregnancy symptoms are detected.