What does a 99% Accurate Pregnancy Test mean?
Manufacturers of home pregnancy tests (HPT) often claim their tests have a 99% accuracy but they frequently do not explain exactly what it means. It has nothing to do with how likely your pregnancy test will be positive when you miss your period or whether a negative test means you are not pregnant. The reason for this strange product claim relates to an arcane and old-fashioned Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation related to a comparison of the test in urine with added hCG in the laboratory. The manufacturer needs only to demonstrate that its test results, the result of a home pregnancy test, and using a nonpregnant woman’s urine supplemented with commercial hCG, agree with those of an existing test more than 99% of the time. So 99% means how likely is it that the home pregnancy test made by this manufactures shows a positive results when it’s testing a nonpregnant woman’s urine mixed with a certain amount of hCG. With todays’ products which are more sensitive than previous o
