Although there are average ranges of hCG levels for different stages of pregnancy, these can vary dramatically from woman to woman, and from pregnancy to pregnancy. Even if your hCG levels are outside the "normal" range, you can still have a perfectly healthy pregnancy and baby.
That said, it is important that your hCG levels increase during early pregnancy. If your hCG levels don't continue to rise rapidly during the first few weeks or if they start to drop, this can signal a problem such as an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.
Higher-than-typical hCG levels can signal that you're carrying multiples or, in rare cases, have a molar pregnancy. Often, you won't know what your hCG levels are during pregnancy. Home pregnancy tests don't give a specific hCG number. However, you may learn your hCG levels if your provider orders a blood test to confirm your pregnancy or as part of a screening test. Your provider may also order a series of two or more hCG blood tests if he or she has concerns about how your pregnancy is progressing.
These blood tests, taken two to three days apart, can tell your provider whether your hCG levels are trending in the right direction. While hCG levels can vary widely from person to person and from pregnancy to pregnancy, they tend to fall within a range. Below is the average hCG range during pregnancy, based on the number of weeks since your last menstrual period Note, if your cycle is irregular, these numbers may not apply. All about home pregnancy tests. BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world.
When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals. We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies. American Pregnancy Association. Although various hCG discriminatory levels have been used to assess the risk of ectopic pregnancy, there is no established hCG level that is diagnostic of an ectopic pregnancy [2, 4, 5].
A slower rate of increase suggests a possible miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy. A fall that is slower than this is suggestive of an ectopic pregnancy. Morse and coworkers conclude serial hCG values should be used in combination with clinical judgment, evaluation of symptoms and repeat ultrasound as needed.
Please enable JavaScript to view all features on this site. You can also see that normal hCG levels increase and then eventually level off before decreasing during the course of a typical pregnancy. Indeed, hCG levels are usually analyzed over a period of time and not just used as a one-time determinate. The first blood test for hCG typically provides your doctor with a baseline. From there, your doctor will look to see how the hCG level changes over time in subsequent blood tests.
In the first 4 weeks of a viable pregnancy, hCG levels generally double every 48 to 72 hours. After this, the hCG levels should grow more slowly doubling approximately every 96 hours around the 6-week point. A doctor may pay close attention to your hCG levels early in pregnancy, because failing pregnancies typically have a longer doubling time early on and may even begin to fall when they should be doubling. Pregnancies that start with a higher baseline of hCG may take slightly longer to double without this being a sign of concern in the pregnancy.
If your doctor notices that hCG levels are not following expected patterns, they may request additional blood draws every few days in order to get a better idea of how the levels are changing. In a typical viable pregnancy, levels of hCG should peak around 10 to 12 weeks after your last menstrual cycle and slowly diminish throughout the rest of the pregnancy.
Within a few weeks of delivery, hCG levels should be undetectable. In the rare case this does not happen, it may indicate some remaining hCG-producing tissue exists that will need to be removed. These include fetal loss, preeclampsia, preterm delivery, and chromosomal abnormalities. A high level can indicate:. A health care provider may recheck your levels if you are bleeding, experiencing severe cramping , or have a history of miscarriage. Most women can expect their levels to return to a non-pregnant range about 4 — 6 weeks after a pregnancy loss has occurred.
If you get a positive test result, you are most likely pregnant. False positives are extremely rare. However, there are some conditions that may cause a false positive, such as certain types of cancer and early miscarriage. Some antibodies may also interfere with test results.
Medications that contain hCG may interfere with hCG levels, as well. These medications are often used infertility treatments, and your health care provider should advise you on how they may affect a test. All other medications such as antibiotics, pain relievers, contraception or other hormone medications should not have any effect on a test that measures hCG.
Psychiatry Edgemont. What is HCG?
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