Early pregnancy blood test to check hcg and progesterone

If a woman's menstruation is delayed for more than a week, the possibility of pregnancy is relatively high. In order to ensure accuracy, you can go to a regular hospital to check the blood hcg value to observe whether you are pregnant. If you are pregnant, the progesterone value and hcg value will cause relative changes. So do you need to fast when checking the progesterone value and hcg during pregnancy?

Do I need to fast when checking progesterone and hcg during pregnancy?

HCG human chorionic gonadotropin enters the maternal blood after fertilization and multiplies rapidly until the 8th week of pregnancy, then slowly decreases in concentration until the 18th to 20th week, and then remains for a long time. Generally, a level of at least 2.5 MoM of human chorionic gonadotropin is associated with Down syndrome. However, the actual human chorionic gonadotropin level in the maternal blood of DS patients is only 1.3 MoM on average, which cannot significantly distinguish DS patients.

Progesterone is the main biologically active estrogen secreted by the uterus and ovaries. Before ovulation, the amount of progesterone produced daily is 2-3 mg, which mainly comes from the uterus and ovaries. After ovulation, it increases to 20~3b250g per day, most of which is metabolized by the progesterone in the uterus and ovaries. The corpus luteum can protect the uterine wall of women. During pregnancy, the progesterone hormone can provide support and guarantee for the early growth and development of the fetus, and can have a certain calming effect on the uterus.

For blood tests of hcg and progesterone levels, these tests do not require fasting. Eating or drinking plenty of water will not affect the results of the progesterone level test.

HCG test is the earliest and most accurate test method for detecting whether you are pregnant. Blood HCG test can usually be done 8-10 days after sexual intercourse. You do not need to be on an empty stomach before the test, but it is best to test in the morning. The progesterone level increases significantly during the 9th to 32nd week of pregnancy, reaching 10 to 100 times that of normal people. When taking a blood test to measure HCG, the progesterone level can also be detected at the same time. Similarly, you don’t need to be on an empty stomach to measure progesterone levels.