There is no shortage of products available to support you on your a fertility journey. But how do these products compare to one another? We break the different at-home products down by category.
Blood tests
Blood is considered to be the gold standard for measuring levels of hormones. When a woman goes to her clinician, they often do an intravenous blood draw. However, at-home options are limited outside of a phlebotomist coming to someone's house to get a blood sample.
Over the past few years, at-home blood testing companies have focused on measuring critical hormones to evaluate a woman's fertility profile. These tests use a dried blood spot and require the sample to be mailed to a clinic or lab for analysis.
At-home blood test companies typically require women to provide a blood sample through a finger prick and mail it to the clinic or lab the company has partnered with for analysis.
It is important to note that these tests are not meant to be used to proxy for ovulation tracking. These tests can give a good overview of your hormone profile to identify broader reproductive health.
Limitations of blood tests
Blood tests' results heavily depend on which cycle day a woman is testing on. The results are also available several days after a sample is mailed in. This could be detrimental to the journey of women trying to conceive as they would need real-time measurements over several days.
- Invasive: Yes
- Average cost: $129-$159 per day of testing
- Results: Quantitative (actual hormone values)
- Time to results: 5-10 days
- Personalized: Yes
Saliva tests
Saliva tests are used as an ovulation predictor kit. These tests measure the level of salt and estrogen present in a saliva sample. Around 3-4 days before ovulation, a ferning pattern becomes visible, indicating that ovulation is about to occur.
These tests require a drop of saliva, and once dried, the sample is viewed through a microscope to see if a ferning pattern has formed. Many products require a device that contains a microscope for analysis, and results are sent to a smartphone app via Bluetooth.
A significant advantage of these tests is that they detect elevated estrogen levels. Estrogen begins to increase before the LH surge. If a woman is trying to conceive, she can try to have intercourse every other day from when her estrogen levels begin to increase. This will ensure enough sperm is present when she ovulates several days later.
Limitations of saliva tests
These tests must be done first thing in the morning, before eating, drinking, or brushing teeth, as any of these could interfere with results.
These tests are not quantitative and will only provide a yes or no answer. They will not report a value for the hormone concentrations.
- Invasive: No
- Average cost: $19-$229
- Results: Positive/Negative response on whether a woman is in her fertile window
- Time to results: 5 minutes
- Personalized: No
Urine Tests
Urine tests are the most commonly used tools when tracking ovulation. Most urine tests measure luteinizing hormone (LH), while advanced tests include E3G (a metabolite of estrogen). Measuring both E3G and LH ensures that a woman can more precisely identify her fertile window and have intercourse to optimize her chances of conception.
Many tests available over the counter show the results in the form of a second line appearing or a blinking smiley face. The idea is that when the results are positive, she should have intercourse as she is most likely to conceive at that point.
Limitations of urine tests
A drawback to these tests is that they are designed for women with a typical 28-day cycle. For those with reproductive disorders such as PCOS, hormone imbalances, or irregular cycles, these tests will not be reliable or accurate for her. The over-the-counter ovulation tests detect a positive result when the hormone levels surpass a predetermined threshold. This threshold may be meaningless for women who do not have a typical cycle.
- Invasive: No
- Average cost: $12-$199
- Results: Qualitative (positive/negative result based on if LH rises)
- Time to results: 5-10 minutes
- Personalized: No
Oova
Oova is an at-home test that measures E3G (an estrogen metabolite), luteinizing hormone, and PdG (a progesterone metabolite) from a urine sample. Oova can track and predict ovulation. Because the test uses urine, the entire experience is entirely non-invasive and can be completed at home.
Women are prompted to test for 20 days. The 20 days are determined by the algorithm and personalized for every woman. The goal is to capture a woman's baseline levels, LH surge, and post-surge to confirm if an egg was released. On a testing day, a woman provides a urine sample on an Oova cartridge, scans it using the camera on her phone (just like taking a picture), and gets results within seconds in the Oova app.
Every day that a woman uses an Oova test, she is provided with the hormone concentrations. By measuring these levels, Oova can capture every woman's hormone baseline levels and detect fluctuations by comparing them. This allows the Oova platform to be personalized for every woman and does not compare her data to a standard threshold.
Oova is the only product on the market trusted by doctors. If a woman is working with an Oova provider, she can easily share her data with her clinical team by connecting with her provider's clinic in the app, and Oova takes care of the rest.
- Invasive: No
- Average cost: $159 one time or $129 monthly
- Results: Quantitative (actual hormone values)
- Time to results: 10 minutes
- Personalized: Yes