A 'false negative' can occur on a
home pregnancy test. This result means that the at-home testing results report that the woman is NOT
pregnant when she is. At-home pregnancy tests are sometimes sold in 2-packs for women to use both tests at the same time. Testing differently using the same method at the same time is an indication of a
false positive or false negative result.
A false negative may occur if the woman is tested too early into her pregnancy. The
hCG buildup in her
urine might not be in a high enough concentration to be detected by the at-home pregnancy test. Fertilized
ovums have been known to drift in the
uterus for days before
implanting in the uterine wall.
These false negatives are rare. At-home pregnancy tests are most accurate in the morning when the
hCG is most concentrated in the urine.
In
biometrics, this term refers to the case where an
authentication system erroneously
denies access to an
authorized entity.