Pregnancy Blood Test

How pregnancy blood test works?

Pregnancy blood test is a test that measure the level of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the blood in order to confirm whether the women is pregnant or not. HCG is a hormone that will be produced only by the placenta of the pregnant women about 10 days after fertilization, this hormone is very important in protecting the foetus during the first trimester of the pregnancy and its level should gradually increase during the first trimester.

A pregnancy blood test done in Singapore usually show the exact amount of HCG in the blood and doctor will be able to advise the women based on the level of the HCG detected.

Advantages of a pregnancy blood test

1. Pregnancy blood test can detect a pregnancy earlier. Pregnancy blood test can detect pregnancy at about 7-12 days from possible conception. This is much earlier than a home pregnancy test which can detect pregnancy at about 14 days after the conception.

2. Blood pregnancy test can measure the exact amount of HCG hormone in the blood. Not only this help to confirm whether you are pregnant, it can also help to detect pregnancy-related problem during early pregnancy.

3. It is more accurate than a home pregnancy test. Some researches had shown that a blood test is more accurate than a home pregnancy test by at least 2%.

Disadvantages of a pregnancy blood test

1. Pregnancy blood test costs more. A home pregnancy test at most costs you $10 each time. In fact, some home pregnancy test kit actually costs less than $1, but a pregnancy blood test can cost you more than one hundred dollars in Singapore.

2. Home pregnancy test can be done conveniently at home while a blood pregnancy test has to be done in hospital or clinics.

3. It takes longer time to get result for pregnancy blood test. In Singapore, you need to wait at least 3 hours before getting the result for the pregnancy blood test. For a home pregnancy test, it will only take most 15 minutes.