Can't morning urine be used to test for early pregnancy?

Many people need to test whether they are pregnant, but because they forget to test their first urine in the morning, they want to test their urine at other times, but they don’t know if it is accurate. In fact, when testing early pregnancy, the first urine in the morning is the most effective, and it can also most accurately test whether you are pregnant. It is recommended to test and observe multiple times to see if you are pregnant.

Early pregnancy test strips are products that help women detect whether they are pregnant. They can only be used as an initial screening test and may result in false positives or false negatives.

When is the most accurate time for early pregnancy test?

The working principle of self-testing pregnancy using early pregnancy test strips is to detect the hCG value, that is, the value of human chorionic gonadotropin. This hormone is produced by the placenta and usually appears in the urine a few days after pregnancy. However, due to the small amount, it is difficult to test it at the beginning and it only becomes increasingly obvious after 10-14 days.

For women who have just become pregnant, it is generally recommended to use the first urine test in the morning, as the results are more accurate. But for women who have been pregnant for some time, urine from any time of the day can be used for testing.

It usually takes about 7 days from intercourse to pregnancy, which means that pregnancy can be tested on the day of pregnancy (equivalent to 7 days after intercourse), but the accuracy is not high. Generally, the test results will be more accurate if you test again 14 days after having sex.

How to use the early pregnancy test paper

1. Use a disposable urine cup or clean container to collect urine.

2. Tear open the aluminum foil bag along the cut and take out the test paper for testing.

3. Strip type: Dip the end of the test paper with the arrow mark into the container containing the urine sample to be tested (the urine sample is not allowed to exceed the MAX line), take it out and lay it flat after about 3 seconds.

Card type: Use a pipette to draw 0.2mL (3-4 drops) of the urine sample to be tested into the sample addition area.

Pen type: Remove the cap and let the urine pour directly onto the sample area while urinating, and maintain the urine receiving time for 3 seconds (Please note: Do not let the urine exceed the arrow to prevent the urine from wetting the test area and affecting the test results).

4. Observe the test results in the test area: observe the test results within 5-10 minutes. Color development within 40 seconds is strongly positive.

Several test results of early pregnancy test strips

1. Negative: A purple-red line (control line C) appears in the test area, indicating no pregnancy.

2. Positive: Two purple-red lines appear in the test area (control line C and test line T), indicating pregnancy. The color intensity of the test line at different stages of pregnancy changes with the change of HCG concentration.

3. Invalid: No purple-red line appears in the test area or only one purple-red line (test line T line) appears in the test area, indicating that the test failed or the test paper is invalid and should be retested.

Precautions for using early pregnancy test strips

1. Dilution of urine. Drinking too much water can dilute your urine and cause a false-negative result.

2. Performing the test in the morning or evening may have a certain impact on the results. The highest HCG value is generally found in morning urine, so many instructions recommend testing in the morning, but this is not absolute.

3. When testing, pay attention to the length of the test paper immersed in urine. Sometimes the length of urine that covers the test strip is too long, making the test result difficult to interpret.

4. Do not use the test results to determine whether you are pregnant if you have had a recent pregnancy. Because HCG can remain positive for a long period of time after termination of pregnancy (after delivery, spontaneous abortion and artificial abortion).

5. Some diseases and drugs may cause false positive results. Some tumor cells, such as hydatidiform mole, choriocarcinoma, bronchial carcinoma and renal cancer, can also secrete hCG.

6. Do not use expired test strips. Because chemical reagents lose their effectiveness over time, pay attention to the production date when purchasing.

7. Do not use test paper that has been damp.