The first thing you do when you suspect you are pregnant is a pregnancy test. It is the most accessible method that can confirm your "suspicions". Their great advantages are that they are quick, easy to perform at home and can be found in all pharmacies.
Even if the leaflet of the pregnancy tests states that their accuracy/precision is 99%, in some cases, the results are not correct and may mislead you.
The false positive result of the pregnancy test is concrete proof of the fact that sometimes the results obtained do not coincide with reality.
What is a false positive?
The false positive result is the one in which the test indicates that the woman is pregnant, but in fact the information is not true.
Pregnancy tests detect human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in urine and blood, this being a hormone produced by the body only during pregnancy. HCG or the pregnancy hormone begins to be synthesized when the fertilized egg is implanted in the uterus.
In order for the test results to be as accurate as possible, it is recommended that the pregnancy test be done after one week from the moment of the cycle delay.
What are the causes of a false positive result?
There are several reasons that can lead to a false positive result.
Chemical charge
A chemical pregnancy can be the cause for a false positive test. Chemical pregnancy occurs when the ovum is fertilized, but is not able to germinate. More precisely, the embryo is formed, but does not implant in the uterine cavity and does not begin to grow. Chemical pregnancies are quite common, and most of them remain undiagnosed, especially if a pregnancy test is not performed one week after the delay.
Some of the causes that lead to chemical pregnancy are related to problems of the uterus and uterine cavity such as: uterine fibroids, uterine synechiae, congenital uterine malformations.
Also, progesterone deficiency can reduce the probability of implantation and growth of the embryo.
However, a large part of the causes that lead to the installation of the chemical pregnancy remain unknown.
Miscarriage
A false positive result can occur after the loss of a pregnancy, regardless of whether it is a spontaneous abortion or a pregnancy stopped from developing.
hCG levels increase in pregnancy as the placenta grows. Somewhere in the 10th week of pregnancy, they reach their maximum level. When the pregnancy stops developing or when a miscarriage occurs, hCG levels begin to decrease at a slow rate.
The pregnancy hormone can be detected in the blood and urine up to 6 weeks after the termination of pregnancy. That's why the test can come out positive until the hCG level reaches 0. After a spontaneous or medical abortion, it is possible that not all the trophoblast is eliminated, which can still secrete hCG, which is the reason for the false positive result in the pregnancy test.
Medicines
Women who suffer from infertility and are under treatment with drugs containing HCG may have a false positive result of the pregnancy test.
Medical conditions
Certain medical conditions can cause a woman's hCG level to rise, even if she is not pregnant. These diseases include:
- Gestational trophoblastic disease, which can cause tumors of the cells that would normally constitute the placenta
- Ovarian, bladder, breast, lung, stomach cancer
- Chist ovarian
- Menopause is premenopause
On the other hand, in this case, a false positive result can help you find out what are the medical conditions that make you suffer in silence, most of the time without symptoms.
