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What are the best pregnancy tests: choose the best test
When planning a pregnancy, it is important not only to calculate the expected day of ovulation, but also to diagnose pregnancy early in order to avoid various complications.
In such situations, various pregnancy tests come to the rescue, which have helped us more than once to determine the presence of pregnancy in the early stages. Now there are a huge number of varieties of tests – sometimes differing in price several times, but which one is really working and accurate, we will try to sound in this article.
What are the best pregnancy tests?
What is the principle of work based on?
Before you start to understand the varieties and calculate which pregnancy test is better and more accurate, consider the mechanism of work. The principle of the test is based on the determination of the β-subunit of the hCG hormone (human chorionic hormone) in a woman’s urine. HCG begins to be produced from the very first hours of pregnancy and affects the normal course of the first months of pregnancy.
Why is it so important to monitor the concentration of hCG?
Correct determination of the concentration of this hormone in the urine or blood of a woman will first of all give an answer to the question: “Am I pregnant or not, what is the gestational age?” But, in addition, by determining the concentration, we learn about the presence of pathology in the course of pregnancy literally from the first weeks of conception.
Pregnancy test: which is better?
An increased level of the hormone during pregnancy occurs in the following cases:
1. Multiple pregnancy.
2. When gestosis occurs (complication of pregnancy, occurring with high blood pressure, edema, impaired renal function).
3. Chromosomal diseases of the fetus.
In addition, an increased level of this hormone can mean an incorrectly set gestational age.
A reduced level of the hormone during pregnancy occurs in the following pathologies:
1. Fetal death in the 1st and 2nd trimesters of pregnancy.
2. Threat of spontaneous miscarriage.
3. Frozen pregnancy.
4. Ectopic pregnancy.
Low rates should alert you and make you think about unwanted pathological processes.
Attention! If you want to know the exact concentration of hCG, you need to take blood from a vein for analysis. No testers will show you this!
What are the best pregnancy tests – we understand
We have decided on the concentration of the main hormone – a marker for determining pregnancy, but the question remains: which is the best to do a pregnancy test in the early stages? If you do not know for sure whether or not you conceived, but you already have a delay, you can use the usual tests that can be bought at any pharmacy. But among all the variety, it is difficult to choose the best pregnancy test.
As already mentioned, the whole principle of operation is based on the analysis of the concentration of the hormone in the urine, but there are still certain differences. There are the following types:
– test strips – convenient and affordable, it is enough to dip the strip into fresh morning urine, the accuracy may vary depending on the sensitivity;
– tablet – more modern, replacing test strips, for analysis it is necessary to drop urine with a pipette into a special window;
– jet – unlike the previous ones, this is already a whole “device” for determining the concentration of hCG, is substituted under the stream of urine;
– a digital test is the most modern, which determines not only pregnancy, but also the possible term, but one of the disadvantages is the high price, which is not affordable for many women.
To summarize, we can say that all tests cope with their task during the normal course of pregnancy, but if you have suspicions of pathology (ectopic pregnancy, threat of early miscarriage), the analysis should be carried out only in laboratory conditions – this is the standard.