Can Blood Tests for Pregnancy be Wrong?

blood tests

Most people think that blood pregnancy tests are 100% accurate, all the time. While we know that blood pregnancy tests done at a doctor’s office are much more accurate and reliable than home pregnancy tests, can they ever be wrong? Experts say that blood pregnancy tests are as much as 99% accurate. Of course, that leaves room for a tiny bit of error. So, what can happen to make blood pregnancy tests turn out wrong? Read on to find out. Claim Your 20 Free Pregnancy Tests – Click Here

The test is performed too early

A blood pregnancy test can only detect hCG in the blood at around seven days post-conception. If a pregnancy test is done before that seven days is up, the test might not be able to detect the hCG yet. This can cause a negative result when a woman is really pregnant.

Too high hCG levels

Sometimes, a woman will have extremely high levels of hCG in her blood when she is not actually pregnant. This can lead to a false positive pregnancy test. Some of the reasons for high hCG levels can be a tumor, ovarian cancer, a multiple pregnancy, blood or protein in the urine, or certain medications.

Too low hCG levels

Sometimes a woman will have low or even negative hCG levels. There can be a few reasons for this. Some reasons for a low or negative hCG level can be an ectopic pregnancy, or even a miscarriage. Your doctor can help you determine the reason for low hCG levels.

Chemical pregnancy

Sometimes a woman can get a positive blood pregnancy test when she is not actually pregnant. This can sometimes be called a “chemical pregnancy“. A chemical pregnancy is basically a very early miscarriage. Most women do not even know they were pregnant when they have a chemical pregnancy. However, if a woman has a blood test done very near the time that she miscarried, she might have a positive test result when she is not really pregnant.

The bottom line

As you can see, sometimes things do happen that cause a blood test to give inaccurate results. It is rare, but it does happen. If you have a blood test and you are concerned about the accuracy of that test, just ask your doctor to perform another one to make sure. If you are trying to conceive and hope to be getting pregnant with a baby boy or girl, then pregnancy tests are the end all-be all. And just like false positive or false negative urine pregnancy tests, blood tests do have their percentage for inaccuracy too.

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Maureen Stephens, BS, RN
Maureen Stephens, BS, RN | ConceiveEasy
Ms. Stephens has spent over twenty years in the healthcare world, specializing in obstretical and medical/surgical nursing. She joined ConceiveEasy as she has a strong interest in educating and empowering women and promoting fertility awareness.

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