Home monitoring of pregancy tests

Q. 4:--Urine  for pregancy  Tests at home become  negative : May be technical error- -home UPT how accurate??  Ans:-Better followed by blood tests in a lab at a later date-say 15 days after UPT at home becomes as +ve. False –ve or say false +ve UPT is not impossible in rare cases.   Therefore all UPT at home should better be confirmed by blood tests at lab after 15 days of UPT and other blood test may be done concurrently as deemed necessary. Additionally the advantage of blood tets is that Blood Tests offers quantitative tets if deemed necessary. A suspected   pregnancy at home may better  be  confirmed  with the help of a blood test , which    also measures   the amount of  hCG  in the blood   and confirms  the pregnancy. A blood   test is more    reliable   than   a urine test, so both are routinely done to confirm   conception

Point 5:-Take home message:- Home   pregnancy tests are available as kits and though detect   pregnancy fairly accurately, such home tests   should always be followed with blood tests in a lab.  Home   pregnancy tests   work by detecting raised levels of the hormone hCG   in the urine .  Q.5  When to collect urine for UPT at home??  To  use a home pregnancy    urine test  , one   must collect urine    in a container and dip the test strip into it. Some tests are   available    in a solution form and the urine   drops have to be added to it. After   a waiting   time interval    the results can be read according to the  instructions attached with manufacture kit, But most of the hCG in urine are paper strips like  a) Dipstick for albuminuria in urine (discussed 0n 7-6-20 about what is ACR in renal diseases)   , also like  b)  LH kit to predict LH surge   c)  CBG-where blood   glucose is estimated at bed side by glucometer –by capillary prick,.    .

Q.6:-What may wrong with  Rapid hCG Test Card used for urine testing at home?? Have we ever thought of this??

Q. &; What is the cut off level of hCG to make the UPT +ve?  Rapid  hCG test card is used to offer  a visual , qualitative result and is intended  by professional and laboratory    use only. The hCG test card is a rapid test to detect the presence  of hCG  in urine  specimens  in a qualitative format sensitive to 10 mIU hCG/ml. But  No rule of thumb about  level of hCG when becomes positive.

Q.8 Details dynamics of tests principle?? The  test utilizes   a combination of  monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies reagents to selectively defect  elevated level of  hCG  in urine. The  immunological   specificity     of the test card  virtually eliminates  cross reactivity, interferences from the structurally related  glycoprotein  hormones  FSH,LH,TSH  at physiological  levels.

Q. 9 : What is  the  Sensitivity of Pregnancy  Tests  Sensitivity and hCG   Values

The pregnancy tests   available   differ widely in their sensitivity    in picking up the pregnancy hormone, hCG . As  a  general  rule , hCG   levels , if one is  pregnant  are between  5-50  mIU  a week before   the period is due and the hCG levels  should  double every two  to three days. Individualization is important: No rule of thumb about  level of hCG when becomes positive.

The dictum  is that not every placenta secrete the hCG at same quantum. However, it is important  to remember  that every   woman is different and  the time it takes  for the fertilized  egg to implant  in the uterus   wall can vary.

Q. 10: Temporal relationship of  appearance of hCG  in blood and when conc of hCG in blood achieves at a threshold level ?? When does implanting occurs??  Ans:-A common    misconception is that implantation   occurs 7 days    after conception, but  the research  findings   showed   that first   appearance   of HCG   occurred 6-12  days after   ovulation, with   84%  of the pregnancies  implanting on days 8-10 after ovulation.

 Hence   if one does not   get a  positive  pregnancy test, it doesn’t necessarily    mean that  the subject  is not pregnant , because  it is  possible that the subject   ovulated  later than  expected or implantation took longer  than the  average.

Q. 11: Not all brands in our country are alike in potency!!! Brands  of HPT  kits :--Various brands  of HPT  kits are available and are  different  in sensitiveness . Many HPTs claim to be 99%  accurate  on the day  one would have  menst ( the period) but   research  suggests  that most  HPTs  do not consistently spot   pregnancy that   early  and even  when they do the results  are often very  faint.

Brands do vary:--In a  study   done in 2004, researchers tested  the accuracy  of different    brands  of HPT(home urinary test)  and   found that   only one   brand consistently  detected  the low levels   of hCG  usually  present on the  first day  of the  missed  period . The  other brands  missed up to 85% of  pregnancies  on the first  day of the missed period , however most  tests  accurately confirmed  pregnancies  one week  after the missed period.

Q . 14 _ Can drug intake adversely affect Home  pregnancy  tests : Drug   interactions & UPT results.

Most   medicines  over  the counter  and prescription   including   birth control pills  and  antibiotics  does not   affect the results  of a home  pregnancy test. Alcohol   and illegal  drugs  do not   affect HPT  results. Only medicines  that have  the pregancy hormone hCG  , such   as once used to  treat infertility can give  a false  positive  test result.