Can at-home semi-quantitative pregnancy tests serve as a replacement for clinical follow-up of medical abortion? A US study

Abstract

Background: Medical abortion in the United States requires clinic-based follow-up, representing additional time and cost to women and clinics. We studied a semi-quantitative home pregnancy test as a possible replacement for in-person follow-up.

Study design: Four hundred and ninety women participated in the clinical study and used a pregnancy test to determine baseline human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) on the day of mifepristone administration and follow-up hCG 1 week later. One hundred and eighty-nine other women completed a user comprehension survey. Accuracy, feasibility and acceptability of the test were assessed in both the clinical study and the survey.

Results: The test identified the one ongoing pregnancy in the clinical study cohort. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated at 100.0% and 97.0%. The majority of participants in both the clinical study and the user comprehension survey found the test to be "very easy" or "easy" to use.

Conclusion: At-home follow-up with a semi-quantitative pregnancy test is feasible for service delivery in the United States.