Home pregnancy testing can be done in the early stages of conception through early detection pregnancy test. Such pregnancy tests detect the presence of the pregnancy hormone HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in a woman's urine sample. Woman's placenta starts secreting this hormone once a fertilized egg gets attached to the uterus wall.

Test Sensitivity Of Early Detection Pregnancy Test

Different pregnancy tests have different sensitivity to hormone testing. Depending on the sensitivity of pregnancy test, one can decide how soon after conception that test can be used to detect pregnancy. Concentration of HCG hormone in urine is represented in units of milli International Units (mIU). There are various pregnancy tests available in the market with sensitivity levels in the range of 20-100 mIU/ml. High sensitivity means possibility of early detection of pregnancy. Pregnancy tests with the sensitivity of 20-25 mIU/ml are considered to be more sensitive and accurate than early detection pregnancy tests with 50-100 mIU/ml. With accurate early detection tests for pregnancy, you would be able to detect pregnancy as early as a week after conception.

How Early To Start Testing?

Generally, most doctors would recommend that women should wait until the first day of their missed period before they take an early home detection pregnancy test. This works out to be at least two weeks after conception. However, there are some sensitive pregnancy tests available in the market today that detect the pregnancy earlier. Provided that you follow the instructions correctly, home pregnancy detection tests are almost 97% accurate. Additionally, you can get the pregnancy blood test done through your doctor since doctors get more accurate results that even early detection pregnancy tests. The blood test can be taken anywhere between a week and twelve days after you conceive.

How Pregnancy Tests Detect Hormone Levels?

The measure of HCG or pregnancy hormone would be different at different stages of pregnancy. For a pregnant woman, the HCG levels should be around 25 mIU around 10 days past ovulation, 50 mIU around 12 days past ovulation and around 100 mIU at around 15 days past ovulation. Pregnancy blood tests can detect very low levels of HCG as low as 5-10 mIU/ml. However, with very low levels of HCG such as 5 mIU, the pregnancy can be positively confirmed as sometimes such low levels can be present in the woman's body even if she is not pregnant.

Home pregnancy tests usually detect pregnancy at around 50-100 mIU of HCG. However, there are some highly sensitive early detection pregnancy tests available in the market today that can detect HCG levels as low as 20 mIU. It is also beneficial to take the first morning urine for early detection of pregnancy as this urine has the highest concentration of HCG.

Please remember that if you take a pregnancy test too early, it can give a false negative result. Wait for few days and test again.