Does a Chemical Pregnancy Mean I Had a False Positive Pregnancy Test?

Although the term sounds like it was a false pregnancy, a chemical pregnancy is actually a very early form of miscarriage. In a chemical pregnancy, a conception did actually occur, but the loss happened before the pregnancy had developed far enough to be confirmed clinically (such as by ultrasound).

The “chemical” in the term chemical pregnancy means that the only way doctors can confirm the existence of the pregnancy is through biochemical tests, such as hCG blood tests or urine tests.

_Source:

_{Wilcox, A.J., C.R. Weinberg, J.F. O'Connor, D.D. Baird, J.P. Schlatterer, R.E. Canfield, E.G. Armstrong, and B.C. Nisula, "Incidence of early loss of pregnancy." New England Journal of Medicine 1988. Accessed 23 Jan 2008.}