Is it safe to complete a blood test while pregnant?
Definitely still safe and the tests will still be accurate. During pregnancy, blood sugar and cholesterol are slightly elevated compared to pre-pregnant levels, and usually return to baseline levels after pregnancy. This will affect minimal markers in our Baseline panel.
If you are doing one of our more advance panels, the sex hormones in the Performance diagnostics and the hormones in the Women's health diagnostics will be greatly affected. The results will still be accurate, but different than pre-pregnancy levels. The significantly affected tests include DHEA, SHBG, Testosterone, Estrogen, Free Testosterone, Progesterone, FSH, and LH.
Other levels that increase slightly like blood sugar and cholesterol are IGF-1, Cortisol, Insulin, and thyroid hormones. Blood count in the CBC usually drops slightly, and because of both the increased needs and increased supplementation, levels of Folate, B12, Magnesium, Iron, etc can vary in either direction.