Pregnancy hormone levels!!! These are the words you will be hearing a lot over these next nine months. hCG or human chorionic gonadotropin is the hormone produced during pregnancy. Generally, it is produced from the cells that are responsible for placenta development. These cells will nourish the egg after the fertilization.
Pregnancy hormone levels can usually be detected by performing a blood test about 11 days after conception and about 12-14 days after conception by a urine test. Generally, hCG levels will become double for every 72 hours. hCG levels will reach its peak during the initial 8-11 weeks of pregnancy and then it will decrease and level off for the remaining pregnancy period.
Things to know about pregnancy hormone levels:
- During 85% of normal pregnancy cases, the levels of hCG hormone will become double for every 48-72 hours. With the progression of your pregnancy, the levels will even increase and it will take 96 hours to get doubled.
- If you produce too much hCG hormone, care should be taken. You should consult your doctor regarding this. You can get accurate pregnancy hormone levels during 5-6 weeks after your gestation.
- If your hCG levels are lower than 5mIU/ml, then it is a negative pregnancy. If the levels are above 25mIU/ml, then it is a positive pregnancy. These pregnancy hormone levels are measured in Milli-international units per milliliter or mIU/ml.
- If the hCG levels are in between 1,000 – 2,000mIU/ml, gestational sac is visible during the trans vaginal ultrasound. There is much differentiation among the levels of hCG, so diagnosis can’t be made only with ultrasound results until the hCG levels are at 2,000.
- During most cases, taking only one hCG level test is not enough. To get the most accurate valuation, it is necessary to perform multiple tests in a few days apart.
- Don’t estimate your pregnancy due date only by considering these pregnancy hormone levels as the levels may vary greatly.
- Two types of hCG tests are performed, such as qualitative hCG test to detect the presence of it in the blood and quantitative hCG test to detect the actual amount of it in the blood.
Here is the chart that indicates hCG levels during each stage of pregnancy from your last menstrual period.
| Pregnancy Stage | hCG level in mIU/ml |
| 3 weeks | 5 – 50 |
| 4 weeks | 5 – 426 |
| 5 weeks | 18 – 7,340 |
| 6 weeks | 1,080 – 56,500 |
| 7 – 8 weeks | 7, 650 – 229,000 |
| 9 – 12 weeks | 25,700 – 288,000 |
| 13 – 16 weeks | 13,300 – 254,000 |
| 17 – 24 weeks | 4,060 – 165,400 |
| 25 – 40 weeks | 3,640 – 117,000 |
| Not pregnant | <5.0 |
| Post menopause | <9.5 |
