Abstract

PIP: Urine pregnancy diagnostic tests are now widely available to doctors and patients and give accurate results in minutes. These tests have received such wide publicity that even physicians appear to accept them as the norm without doing vaginal examinations. To assess the apparent trend, 100 consecutive patient bookings at Jessop Hospital for Women antenatal clinics were queried about whether they had a urine pregnancy test, and whether their physicians had given them vaginal examinations. Results, in tabular form, show that 37% of the women had an independent diagnostic test, the Predictor costing 4 1/2 pounds, with other tests costing between 2 - 3 1/2 pounds. Only 14% of the women arriving at the hospital clinic had not had a urine test and 75% had not had a vaginal. Certainly there are reasons why biochemical testing is preferable to clinical diagnosis, but one might question why 86% of pregnant women have an expensive urine pregnancy test. Hospitals rarely use these tests in normal pregnancies; usually their use is reserved for cases of missed abortion or pseudocyesis. Even here, however, ultrasound is usually more helpful. However, where gestational age is in doubt, urine testing does imply that the mother was at least 6 weeks pregnant at the time of testing. The sentiment, however, is that such testing for early pregnancy is an extravagance that the N.H.S. cannot afford.