These levels may however be confusing as you can sometimes be below or above the average. Here’s what it means at certain stages in your pregnancy.

HCG ((human chorionic gonadotropin) levels start off very low, but quickly picks up as the number normally doubles every 72 hours. It peaks at about 10 weeks, when the foetus starts taking over HCG production and then slowly goes down for the duration of the pregnancy. The following is the guideline for normal levels of HCG:

HCG Chart

• 3 weeks LMP: 5 – 50 mIU/ml
• 4 weeks LMP: 5 – 426 mIU/ml
• 5 weeks LMP: 18 – 7,340 mIU/ml
• 6 weeks LMP: 1,080 – 56,500 mIU/ml
• 7 – 8 weeks LMP: 7, 650 – 229,000 mIU/ml
• 9 – 12 weeks LMP: 25,700 – 288,000 mIU/ml
• 13 – 16 weeks LMP: 13,300 – 254,000 mIU/ml
• 17 – 24 weeks LMP: 4,060 – 165,400 mIU/ml
• 25 – 40 weeks LMP: 3,640 – 117,000 mIU/ml
• Non-pregnant females: <5.0 mIU/ml
• Postmenopausal females: <9.5 mIU/ml

Low HCG

If your HCG levels are lower than normal, don’t panic yet. Many women have very low levels of HCG and still have perfectly healthy pregnancies. What your doctor might want to do is follow up to see if your levels are rising or falling. If your level is still going up, then you have nothing to worry about (the probability is big that your due date was simply miscalculated, resulting in a seemingly lower count). If the HCG level however continues falling, it may be a sign of miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.

High HCG

In most cases, a very high HCG count is simply a miscalculation of the due date, but it may also be a sign of a multiple pregnancy! Usually your doctor will pick this up in your first ultrasound. An excessively high HCG count that continues to double however, may be a sign of a molar pregnancy. A molar pregnancy happens when a sperm fertilises an egg with no genetic information, which then becomes a cluster of growths in the uterus. This sets off the same physical symptoms as pregnancy, but no embryo is formed, and it should be treated right away. This is however very rare, and easily picked up in your first ultrasound.  Some links have been made between very high HCG levels and downs syndrome, but the important thing to remember is that this correlation is only made after 10+ weeks, when the fetus has taken over producing the HCG hormone. Most of the time a blood test is done at 10-11 weeks, which is taken into consideration when calculating the risk for downs syndrome at 12 weeks.

Most cases

Most of the time your doctor won’t even mention your HCG level to you, as it isn’t concerning in any way if the levels are within normal ranges. If this is the case, relax and know that your pregnancy is doing just fine. Abnormal HCG levels can be stressful, but most of the time it’s nothing to worry about anyway, so the best thing to do is to trust your healthcare provider. They will tell you if there is anything they think may be wrong, and if they don’t, then there is nothing to worry about. Just enjoy the journey to motherhood! - Joanie Odendaal

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