What is a Pregnancy Test?
An at-home pregnancy test (HPT) is a test that confirms pregnancy at home. It is an inexpensive test that uses your urine sample and looks for a specific pregnancy hormone; human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). The production of HCG starts as soon as an embryo implants in the uterus.
There are two ways to confirm pregnancy; an at-home pregnancy kit and a blood test. Both the tests look for the hCG hormone in the body through urine or blood.
With an at-home pregnancy test, a sign of one or two red lines confirms a pregnancy.
What is a Pregnancy Test used for?
A pregnancy test is used to confirm a pregnancy when a woman has missed her period. To do so, one can either buy a pregnancy kit readily available in the market or visit a hospital.
Both test methods look for the pregnancy hormone, hCG, produced only when an embryo is implanted in the uterus.
Understanding the test results of the Pregnancy Test
With different pregnancy kits available in the market, there could be different test results like lines, dots, + or -. Latest digital pregnancy kits even show results as “pregnant” or “not pregnant.”
If the strip shows two red lines or a plus (+) symbol, it means you are pregnant and vice versa.