Early Pregnancy Tests Are Giving Too Many False Results

If you’ve ever had a false early pregnancy test result, you’re not alone. According to new research, some 6.5 per cent of women get the wrong results from using a home pregnancy kit – slamming the 99 per cent accurate claim that such tests boast about.

But read the fine print and you’ll notice that they’re only 99 per cent accurate when not used as early as the bold print on the packaging suggests. Ironic much?

Parenting website MadeForMum investigated, polling some 1,100 women who’ve used pregnancy tests. From the 6.5 per cent who had false results, 5.5 per cent were false negative results and 1 per cent received false positive results. And a shocking 12 per cent of all tests were taken at the wrong time – even earlier than the test claimed to work.
 
“This is an issue we’re seeing on a daily basis,” says Susie Boone, MadeForMums editorial director. “We have more than 100,000 users searching for information about false negative and false positive pregnancy test results every month on MadeForMums.”

There can be numerous consequences to getting the wrong result from a pregnancy test, as some of the polled mums explain.

“I took a test and truly trusted the negative result,” says one mum. “It was Christmas and so I had a few drinks. I would never have had a drop of alcohol if I’d known I was pregnant. The pregnancy ended in miscarriage and for a long time I had a huge amount of guilt and blamed myself, wondering if the drinks had anything to do with it.”

 
A false positive result can be heartbreaking. “Early pregnancy tests pick up these 'pre missed-period miscarriages’ causing a lot of distress for women who understandably feel they have ‘lost’ a baby,” explains Neil McClure, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Queen's University Belfast. “This could be avoided if they waited to test until the first day of the missed period.”
 
MadeForMums is campaigning for clearer messages on the exterior packaging of over-the-counter early pregnancy tests and for standardised instructions for the early pregnancy tests. The three brands surveyed - First Response, Clearblue and Predictor – had confusing instructions on when to take the test to ensure the most accurate results.
 
“Taking a pregnancy test is an incredibly stressful moment in our lives,” says Boone. “Emotions are running high and this is not a time to calmly be reading 1000-word long instructions written in small print. We believe pregnancy tests should have clear, quick-to-read graphical instructions explaining when to use the test and how accurate it will be depending on the day you use it. We want women to have the full facts before they take a test.”
 
Have you ever had a false pregnancy test results? Let us know on Twitter @YLifestyleUK.

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