The beta hCG exam is a blood test that helps to confirm pregnancy and determine approximately how far along a woman is.
If you have your hCG result, enter it below to assess your possibility of pregnancy and how far far along you may be:
What is the hCG hormone?
Beta-hCG or just hCG is short for human chorionic gonadotropin. This hormone is produced by women solely during pregnancy, and is responsible for many pregnancy-related symptoms. This hormone is often measures during a blood test to confirm a possible pregnancy.
This blood test may be ordered by your doctor to be reported quantitatively or qualitatively. A quantitative result means the hCG will be reported with an exact number, while a qualitative result will be reported as a positive or negative.
Learn more about the hCG hormone and how to interpret results.
How does hCG predict gestational age?
The production of hCG starts soon after fertilization of the egg. Levels of hCG will start to increase gradually until the 12th week of pregnancy, at which point they peak and start to decrease until the end of pregnancy.
For this reason, knowing the hCG level can help the doctor to better predict how far along a pregnant woman is. Each week of pregnancy is associated with a range of hCG levels, as shown below:
How to interpret hCG results
The above calculator can determine the gestational age in weeks based on the hCG value entered. It references the ranges listed in the table above.
If the hCG value entered is over the range for 1 week, the calculator may report many possible results. Therefore, it is important to consider the closest possible week based on the last menstrual period.
For example, the calculator may interpret an hCG level of 3.800 mlU/ml to be 5 to 6 weeks along, or 25 to 40 weeks along. A pregnancy that is further along is likely to be closer to the 25 to 40 range.
