SHOPTALK : Kits Can Predict Ovulation

Predicting the time of ovulation is important for the estimated 15% of American couples with fertility problems.

Now, a new over-the-counter kit, Clearplan Easy One Step Ovulation Predictor, is being promoted as easier to use than several competing products.

To use the home kit, which sells for about $25 in drugstores and supermarkets, a woman places the tip of a pen-sized test instrument in the urine stream. After five minutes, she compares the line in the results window of the instrument with the line in the control window.

If the results window line is the same or darker than the control window line, ovulation is likely within 24 to 36 hours, according to a spokeswoman for Whitehall Laboratories, the manufacturer. If there is no line or it is lighter than the control window line, the woman resumes testing the next day. Five test instruments are included in each kit.

It’s worth a try, said Dr. Arthur L. Wisot, a staff physician at the In Vitro Fertilization Center at South Bay Hospital, Redondo Beach. “In general, most ovulation predictor kits are fairly accurate,” said Wisot, co-author of “New Options for Fertility.”

Wisot suggests interested consumers try the kit for one menstrual cycle.

“If you don’t identify a clear color change,” he said, “switch to a different brand. Different brands work differently for different people.”

He suggests that women avoid drinking an excessive amount of fluids while using the tests to avoid diluting the urine and altering the test results.