When women take pregnancy tests, they run through a gambit of emotions. Regardless if women want to be pregnant or not, the few minutes of waiting to get the test results seem to take a lifetime. After all, it is possible that there is about to be a major life change just from urinating on a stick. While most results received are correct, there are times when the test comes back with a false-positive. When this happens, women's lives are thrown into turmoil. This is because those who do not want to be pregnant believe they are, and those who are pregnant but have a pregnancy that will not make it to term will be forever changed. As such, women should be aware of why false-positive pregnancy test results occur.

Pregnancy tests, by and large, are accurate. According to the Mayo Clinic, false-positive test results occur very rarely with home pregnancy tests claiming to be 99 percent accurate. As such, when women receive their test results, they can normally be believed. However, those results should always be followed up with a visit to see a healthcare professional so that both a secondary urine and a blood test can be done to confirm pregnancy. And it is at that time that women will truly know if they are expecting or if there was an error with the test that caused it to throw a false-positive result.

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Here are reasons why false-positive pregnancy test results occur.

5 A Chemical Pregnancy Occurred

While women who suffer chemical pregnancies do not appear to be pregnant and may not have any symptoms of being pregnant, for a moment they were. And as such, it can be difficult for women to lose their pregnancy, no matter the duration that she was expecting.

According to WebMD, a chemical pregnancy is a very early miscarriage. It usually occurs before the pregnancy has made it to five weeks gestation. As such, if a period was never missed, many may mistake a chemical pregnancy for heavier than normal menstruation.

Because the sperm did fertilize an egg and the egg implanted, the body registered HCG levels that are commensurate with being pregnant when it comes to a pregnancy test. And because it takes some time for HCG levels to return to pre-pregnancy levels, a chemical pregnancy will cause a false-positive on a pregnancy test.

4 Testing Too Soon After A Miscarriage

Losing a baby before 20 weeks gestation can be a traumatic experience for women to go through. While one-third to one-half of pregnancies end in miscarriage before women know they are pregnant, according to Cleveland Clinic, there is 10 to 20 percent of women who know they are pregnant and have begun to imagine a life with that baby. And that can be hard to come back from when a miscarriage occurs.

According to VeryWell Family, it can take one to nine weeks for HCG levels to return to pre-pregnancy levels. As such, women who have suffered a miscarriage should wait to take another pregnancy test for several weeks so that they are not heartbroken by a false-positive pregnancy test result.

3 An Ectopic Pregnancy Occurred

Ectopic pregnancies differ from chemical pregnancies and miscarriages because of the location of the fertilized egg. Instead of implanting in the uterus, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 90 percent of the eggs implant inside a fallopian tube. And as the egg grows, it can cause the fallopian tube to rupture. This puts the women with ectopic pregnancies in a life-threatening state as a burst fallopian tube causes major internal bleeding.

Because the egg was fertilized, the body released HCG into the system. As a result, the pregnancy test will come back positive because those with ectopic pregnancies are pregnant. However, it is considered a false-positive test result because of the location of the egg and the fact that the pregnancy will have to be terminated in order to save the lives of those who are pregnant in this fashion.

2 User Error With The Test

While it seems straightforward to take a pregnancy test, if the instructions are not followed exactly as written, there is a chance that a false-positive result can occur.

According to healthline, some of the most common reasons that errors occur with pregnancy tests is taking them too early in a cycle, not peeing on the test stick first thing in the morning and allowing urine to dilute, not keeping the test in the urine stream long enough, and not waiting enough time before checking the test results.

The instructions are there for a reason. If they are used appropriately, tests can be up to 99 percent effective. If not, there is a greater chance of an incorrect result.

1 Evaporation Line Problems

With the pregnancy tests that have two lines to indicate whether a pregnancy is present or not, the evaporation line can cause some confusion. As such, it is important to know how and when to read them to not get a false-positive result.

According to The Source, the faint line that shows up on the pregnancy test is the urine evaporation line. If it shows up shortly after the test is taken, it is a signal of early pregnancy.

However, if the test is read later than the time limit given in the instructions, the line could become very bright in color as a result of the urine evaporating completely. And when this happens, a false-positive result occurs.

Source: Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, VeryWell Family, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, healthline, The Source