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Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

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Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#111

Post by bluntfang »

davewritescode wrote: post #90
leto_ii wrote: post #71

Going over the conversation here I'm a bit surprised by how many people seem to prefer an unnecessarily complicated and obfuscating solution to the straight-forward one. The Twitter thread clearly points out that the electronics serve strictly as an intermediary layer between the paper test and the user. They just binarize the paper reading. This in turn gives a false psychological sense of security ("it's the comput…

I actually saw this last night and initially had the same reaction but had some time to think on it. Remember, for a lot of people taking a pregnancy test is incredibly stressful. Reducing the complexity of reading by outputting a less ambiguous result has a lot of value to some people.

if you really think the driver of this is "reducing stress" you haven't been paying attention to capitalism.

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#112

Post by thebean11 »

wwn_se wrote: post #55
0latency wrote: post #22

Pregnancy/Motherhood groups are swarmed with the same "can you read this, I think I see a faint line" + photo question every single day because of the cheap tests. The strip results are NOT easy to interpret, because you may still see a faint line on the paper when not pregnant, and it's kind of an important emotional question as some couples have been trying to get pregnant for years. Your OB does you a mercy if the…

Well yes but the digital test does not give your better info. They translate a non binary result to a binary one. What I did when "we" were doing these tests (got 2 types both paper stips, one high sensitivity and one of the cheapest one) simply compare a unused strip and the one with pee. It's not hard and the manual in the ones I got were really good. Like color pictures and lots of examples.

They don't give you more info, but I think you could argue it's better info. Sometimes less is more, filtering noise is valuable.

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#113

Post by andi999 »

leto_ii wrote: post #87
shawnz wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know that whoever made the test, if it's a reasonably competent enterprise, made it with human capacities in mind. Are you sure they weren't just constrained by technological limitations when they designed the paper test? Maybe the reason the digital test exists is that a competent enterprise wanted to adapt the paper technology to better fit human capacities?

Maybe, although I doubt it. It would mean that they put in extra research to, for example, plot an ROC curve and see what the optimal threshold for the test would be. Even if that was the case, you can still frame the question in terms of cost/benefits. The electronic test is, let's say, 10 times more expensive than a basic one. Is it more reliable than taking 10 basic tests (maybe at different times) and averaging t…

Averaging is thr worst. No laymen would know what 80% pregnant means. Better use majority vote.

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#114

Post by sokoloff »

rubidium wrote: post #97
davewritescode wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually saw this last night and initially had the same reaction but had some time to think on it. Remember, for a lot of people taking a pregnancy test is incredibly stressful. Reducing the complexity of reading by outputting a less ambiguous result has a lot of value to some people.

This exactly. I had to convince my wife not to doubt herself. “Yes that’s a line. Instructions say that if anything appears even if faint then you’re pregnant. No we don’t need to double check. Wahoo you’re pregnant!!”

We had the same conversation, followed by at least $30 worth of double-checking over the next several days...

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#115

Post by dec0dedab0de »

So It's basically like the blood sugar testers diabetics use, except they want you to buy a new reader with every strip.

There is now an opportunity for one of the manufacturers of pregnancy tests to make a reusable reader. The add could be like "We know you're going to test more than once, we won't force you to buy a reader every time." or "instead of asking the strangers if they see a line (cut to forum posts of tests) , let {product name} be your second opinion" Or even "Don't wait until you've missing your period, test every week for an entire year for less than the cost of 3 of the competitors digital tests"

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#116

Post by throw_away »

elliebike wrote: post #80

The issue here is that paper tests require the user to read and properly understand instructions. Teenagers in a panic can and will misread and misunderstand, as people often do when under duress. It may seem "pointless", but making the tests more user friendly and less prone to user error is super important.

Here is a paper showing how these tests have 99% sensitivity in the lab, but this drops to 91% when the test is read in the field by a volunteer, and down to 75% when the test is read by the subject themselves:

https://archive.is/20081206110632/http://archfami.ama-assn.o...

Moreover, if it's such that even a trace of a line indicates a high confidence of pregnancy, users may misinterpret a faint result as somehow meaning "kinda" pregnant.

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#117

Post by ashtonkem »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #115

So It's basically like the blood sugar testers diabetics use, except they want you to buy a new reader with every strip. There is now an opportunity for one of the manufacturers of pregnancy tests to make a reusable reader. The add could be like "We know you're going to test more than once, we won't force you to buy a reader every time." or "instead of asking the strangers if they see a line (cut to forum posts of te…

Pregnancy tests and blood sugar tests have pretty different usage patterns. Blood sugar tests will (should) be used every day by diabetics; the cost per test matters a lot. Women on the other hand go through pregnancy tests much less frequently, and care much more about accuracy than cost. The impact of a false positive or negative from a pregnancy test can be massive, and even the perception of increased accuracy is good marketing.

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#118

Post by lightlyused »

elliebike wrote: post #80

The issue here is that paper tests require the user to read and properly understand instructions. Teenagers in a panic can and will misread and misunderstand, as people often do when under duress. It may seem "pointless", but making the tests more user friendly and less prone to user error is super important.

I wouldn't say super important. I'll probably get down voted for my opinion, but if we had proper sex education for everyone and valued women's health care than this wouldn't be an issue.

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#119

Post by wbl »

arsome wrote: post #100
leto_ii wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, although I doubt it. It would mean that they put in extra research to, for example, plot an ROC curve and see what the optimal threshold for the test would be. Even if that was the case, you can still frame the question in terms of cost/benefits. The electronic test is, let's say, 10 times more expensive than a basic one. Is it more reliable than taking 10 basic tests (maybe at different times) and averaging t…

I mean the giveaway to me seems to be the fact that they don't seem to include an "inconclusive" state.

The levels of hCG are two orders of magnitude larger post conception and rise to five orders of magnitude a month post conception. The antibodies the test uses are extremely selective.

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#120

Post by Johnny555 »

nelaboras wrote: post #58
Johnny555 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just checked on cvs.com, a 2 pack of CVS branded "blue line" style pregnancy tests cost $13.99, a 2 pack of "clear blue" digital tests costs $17.79. You can buy bulk strips for around 50 cents each, but many people would rather pay for the convenience of peeing on a stick than peeing in a cup and them dipping a test strip in it.

You could also pee straight on the paper.

Many people are squeamish enough about their own urine to not want to hold a 2" long test strip in the stream, a 6" plastic device gives more clearance.

But in any case, test strips vary in how they work - some require a couple drops of urine in a specific spot on the strip, some say to dip in the urine cup until a dye mark appears. Is holding the test strip in the stream going to give the same result? I don't know.

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