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Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy Either way, if you think you might be pregnant, you need to know for sure. But what are the odds a positive pregnancy test might be wrong? “Home urine pregnancy tests are pretty reliable,” says Ob/Gyn Jonathan Emery, MD. “But there are some reasons you might get a false-positive result.” Dr. Emery explains when and why a pregnancy test might give a false positive — and what you can do to make sure the stick doesn’t lie. How do pregnancy tests work?When you get pregnant, your body produces a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG. Home pregnancy tests look for that hormone in your urine. If hCG is present, you should get a positive test result when you pee on a stick. But hCG levels start out very low and increase over time. If you take the test too soon after conceiving, it might say you’re not pregnant when you really are. In other words, timing can lead to a false negative. But what about a false positive? False positives aren’t super common, Dr. Emery says. But they’re not impossible. Some potential causes include: Early miscarriage or chemical pregnancyYou took a pregnancy test and got two lines. (Positive!) But a few days later, your period arrived in force. What gives? The most common reason this happens is an early pregnancy loss, also known as a chemical pregnancy. In this case, the test was accurate — there was a pregnancy, but it wasn’t a viable one, Dr. Emery explains. “It’s not technically false since a very early pregnancy did occur,” he says. “But this is the most common reason that a pregnancy test might appear to have been false.” Fertility medications“A lot of fertility treatments involve taking hCG injections,” Dr. Emery says. If you’ve been taking fertility medications, that hCG might still be floating around your system. That could trigger a positive pregnancy test, even if you’re not pregnant. To avoid that mix-up, wait at least two weeks after your last hCG injection to take a home pregnancy test, he says. Recent pregnancyIf you were recently pregnant, you might still have leftover hCG in your system. After childbirth, miscarriage or treatment for ectopic pregnancy, the hormone can remain in your body for up to four to six weeks, Dr. Emery says. “That could lead to a positive pregnancy test when your body just hasn’t cleared the hCG yet.” User errorHome pregnancy tests aren’t especially hard to use. But you still have to pay attention since a mistake can lead to incorrect results. If you wait too long to read the results, for example, or use more drops of urine than the test calls for? You might want to take the answer with a grain of salt. “If you don’t follow all the instructions, any results — positive or negative — could be false,” Dr. Emery says. Pregnancy test accuracy: How to get results you can trustLuckily, false positives are rare. And there are steps you can take to make sure your home pregnancy test gives you results you can trust.
Home pregnancy tests are inexpensive, private and quite reliable, Dr. Emery adds. “People often don’t believe what they’re seeing. But if you’ve used the test correctly and done it at the right time, it’s probably true.” If you're taking a pregnancy test, you want to be sure you can trust the results. Thankfully, the vast majority of the time, when you take an at-home pregnancy test your result will be accurate. In fact, studies show that when done correctly, these tests are around 99% correct. However, while a false positive pregnancy test result is uncommon, it can happen, for a variety of reasons. Learn more about the causes of false positive pregnancy tests. What Is a False Positive?A false positive on a pregnancy test means that the test result says you are pregnant but you actually aren't. In most cases, this means the test detected the hormone hCG in your urine when there really was no hCG in your urine. However, sometimes, there may be hCG in your urine even if you are not (or are no longer) pregnant with a viable embryo. The newer, more sensitive early pregnancy tests can detect lower amounts of hCG in the urine, making them more sensitive, and in rare cases, they can indicate pregnancy when one does not actually exist. Though there are reasons why you may have a false positive. CausesThere are a variety of reasons that a home pregnancy test may have a false positive result. For a false positive to be shown on your pregnancy test, you either have hCG in your body for some other medical reason or the test was not working correctly. Call your doctor or midwife for advice on what to do if you get a positive result but then discover that you're not pregnant. They may wish to do blood work to see if hCG is found in your blood or do other testing to rule out any other health issues. Test ErrorWhile rare, the home pregnancy test you are using could be faulty. Some reasons include if the test was not stored properly and was damaged by heat or water. Or there could be a defect due to a manufacturing issue, but again, this is rare. More likely, although still uncommon, the error could be due to taking the test incorrectly. For example, you could have waited too long to read the results or you could be misinterpreting the test strips, which sometimes have faint lines, called evaporation lines, that can show up for negative results. True positive results will show up as bright lines. Early Pregnancy LossAnother possibility is that you had a correct positive result, in that hCG was found, but that the hCG levels are falling. This is not technically a false positive in the sense that it did detect hCG, but it is false in the sense that you may not have a viable pregnancy. This lower hCG may be a sign of a miscarriage or chemical pregnancy, which is when an embryo doesn't implant or grow. You may also still have hCG in your body after a recent abortion. Ectopic PregnancyYou can get a positive pregnancy test result with an ectopic pregnancy, which is also known as a tubal pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy is when an embryo implants outside of the uterus. Unfortunately, these pregnancies are not viable and treatment is required to remove the embryo to protect the health of the pregnant person—and their fertility. Symptoms of ectopic pregnancy include dizziness, vaginal bleeding, fainting, rectal pressure, and/or abdominal, pelvic, or shoulder pain, If you experience any of these symptoms along with a positive pregnancy result, contact your doctor. Some Medical ConditionsThere are a variety of medical issues that may cause a false positive result. For example, a positive pregnancy test can sometimes indicate a molar pregnancy, a type of non-cancerous tumor that's also called also known as a hydatidiform mole. Other possibilities include having a urinary tract infection, certain types of ovarian cancer, and kidney disease. Certain Medications Some medications may create a false positive pregnancy test result as well. These include some anticonvulsants, anti-anxiety drugs, antihistamines, diuretics, chemotherapy medications, antipsychotics, drugs that treat Parkinson's disease, and methadone. Pregnancy Confirmation VisitIf you get a positive pregnancy test, it's always a good idea to follow up with your doctor. Most doctor's offices use urine tests to test for pregnancy that are very similar to what you use at home. Though they may not look the same, the technology is essentially the same. If they think that there is an issue with the urine test you used at home, they may opt to try a urine test in the office, or they may go straight to a blood pregnancy test. This would usually then be repeated to tell what the exact hCG numbers were and whether it was going up or down in the two tests. This can give you a better idea of if you had a false positive or if it was a fluke from the test itself. What Happens If You Have a False Positive Test Result?If you have had a false positive on a pregnancy test, that means you are not pregnant. If another medical condition caused your false positive result, you may need treatment. If not, you may decide to try to get pregnant. Or you may even find out later in this cycle that you are pregnant, but just weren't pregnant enough at the time of the original test. "I had a slight positive pregnancy test and went to the doctor," says Clare. "I was really surprised when they said I wasn't pregnant. I felt a bit foolish. Turns out two weeks later, I really was pregnant. One urine test was right, the other wrong." However, for many people, it may take several cycles to become pregnant. If you have been trying for a year (or for six months if you're 35 or over), consult with your OB/GYN to have your fertility evaluated, if needed. A Word From VerywellWhile unlikely, getting a false positive pregnancy test result is possible. If you're trying to conceive, it can be very upsetting and confusing to think you're pregnant only to discover that you're actually not. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions about your fertility and the best way for you to get pregnant and test the next time you suspect you might have conceived. Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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Robin Elise Weiss, PhD, MPH Thanks for your feedback! Can a pregnancy test be positive if not pregnant?It's possible to have a positive pregnancy test even if you aren't technically pregnant. This is called a false positive. It's sometimes caused by a chemical pregnancy. A chemical pregnancy occurs if a fertilized egg, known as the embryo, is unable to implant, or grow, very early on.
How common are multiple false positive pregnancy tests?The good news for prospective testers is that the chances of a false positive pregnancy test are very low. So just how common are false positive pregnancy tests then? “False positive pregnancy tests are rare and occur less than 1 percent of the time,” confirms DuMontier.
Should I worry about a false positive pregnancy test?A pregnancy test works by detecting the hCG hormone, which is usually only present in your body if you're pregnant. A positive pregnancy test result will mean you are almost certainly pregnant. Getting a true false positive – when you were never pregnant in the first place – is incredibly rare.
How common are false positive pregnancy tests Clearblue?Because hCG is usually only present in your body when you're pregnant, false positive results are incredibly rare. If you use a reliable pregnancy test, like Clearblue, you can be over 99% certain you're pregnant if you see a positive result.
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How often are false positive pregnancy tests
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