You’ve heard the hype about FRER. You’ve also seen the high price tag. Now that you might be pregnant, you need to know, “Does First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test Work?” You came to the right place.
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Does First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test Work?
Are you pregnant? Of course, you want to know. Potential mothers need to know now. For this reason, most women want an early result pregnancy test. After all, who wants to wait to see if they’re going to miss their period?
Early Result vs. Standard
Most pregnant women will trigger a positive result on a standard pregnancy test on the first day of their missed period, but you want to know now.
Early result tests have a higher sensitivity to the pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, than “standard” pregnancy tests. The extra sensitivity detects lower HCG levels and may tell you early whether you’re pregnant.
What is the First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test?
One popular early testing product, First Response, gets a lot of attention. In our opinion, it’s for a good reason: The First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test from Church & Dwight is the most HCG-sensitive pregnancy test on the market.
Unsurprisingly, however, First Response gets many negative reviews from customers because customers fail to understand the trade-off between sensitivity and accuracy.
Here’s how documents filed with the FDA describe the First Response Early Result test:
The FIRST RESPONSE® Early Result Pregnancy Test is an over-the-counter chromatographic immunoassay for the qualitative detection of human chorionic gonadotropin(hCG) in urine. The device is intended for use as an aid in early detection of pregnancy, in some cases as early as five (5) days before the expected period, i.e., as early as six (6) days before the day of the missed period.
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/reviews/K123436.pdf
Why do I get a First Response Early Pregnancy Test false positive?
First Response supplies a high-sensitivity pregnancy test so you can test early. In fact, according to the product’s website, First Response is
The FIRST Brand to tell you 6 DAYS SOONER than your missed period1
https://www.firstresponse.com/en/Product-Listings/Early-Result-Pregnancy-Test
First Response clarifies their statement as follows:
1 FIRST RESPONSE™ detects the pregnancy hormone 6 days sooner than the day of your missed period (5 days before the day of expected period).
https://www.firstresponse.com/en/Product-Listings/Early-Result-Pregnancy-Test
You get false positives from FRER because many women have naturally high HCG hormone levels. If you have elevated HCG, you can trigger a positive result simply because FRER has such a low trigger.
How sensitive are First Response Early Result pregnancy tests?
In addition to supplying potentially pregnant women with a high-sensitivity pregnancy test, First Response detects more HCG isoforms than competing early result tests:
- Intact HCG.
- Hyperglycosylated HCG.
- HCG β-subunit
- HCG β-core fragment
Analytical sensitivity
The lowest HCG concentration that produces a positive result for 100% of pregnant women is 10 mIU/mL HCG. No one with an HCG level of 10 mIU/mL or higher will get a negative result.
Cutoff sensitivity
The level of HCG where at least 50% of users will get a positive result with the First Response Early Pregnancy Test is 6 mIU/mL HCG.
Now that you know the almost insane low HCG concentrations that trigger a positive result, you can understand why some women get false positives with First Response.
How to use First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test
Reading and following your pregnancy test directions increases your chance for an accurate result.
As a service to our readers, you may read the First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test instructions here.
How accurate is First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test?
FRER is over 99% accurate from the day of your expected period. To say it differently, First Response is >99% accurate at detecting typical pregnancy hormone levels. Note that hormone levels vary.
Go Further with First Response
We have answered your question, “Does First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test work?” Yes. It works.
We’ve explained to you that while FRER works, its low sensitivity tends to yield false-positive results for women who aren’t pregnant.
We recommend that you confirm your result by testing again with a fresh test two or three days after you receive a positive result with FRER.
Learn more about First Response using other reviews and articles published right here at CPG Health: