Una prueba de embarazo es toda aquella técnica usada para la búsqueda de los signos hipotéticos que permiten confirmar un embarazo. Consiste en detectar la presencia de la hormona gonadotropina coriónica humana (hCG) en el plasma materno o en la orina, y es el procedimiento que aporta quizá el mayor nivel de probabilidad de diagnóstico confiable. Otras técnicas, como el ultrasonido obstétrico, también confirman el embarazo, pero el término prueba de embarazo suele implicar pruebas bioquímicas, aplicadas a partir de los 4 días de la concepción, aproximadamente.

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A pregnancy test attempts to determine whether a woman is pregnant. Markers that indicate pregnancy are found in urine and blood, and pregnancy tests require sampling one of these substances. The first of these markers to be discovered, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), was discovered in 1930 to be produced by the syncytiotrophoblast cells of the fertilised ova (eggs). While hCG is a reliable marker of pregnancy, it cannot be detected until after implantation: this results in false negatives if the test is performed during the very early stages of pregnancy. Obstetric ultrasonography may also be used to detect pregnancy. Obstetric ultrasonography was first practiced in the 1960s; the first home test kit for hCG was invented in 1968. The kits went on the market in the United States and Europe in the mid-1970s.

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