image by: minqian yin on Unsplash

HWN Suggests

Does At-Home Medical Testing Help or Hurt You?

If you have a Facebook account, you've probably seen more than a few friends and relatives share the results of their Ancestry DNA tests. All you have to do is request the test, swab your cheek, send it back to the lab, and within a matter of days or weeks, you find out exactly where your ancestors were from. Pretty awesome, right? Imagine if having medical tests done were *that* easy. Well, for some tests—such as for certain types of STDs, fertility issues, cancer risks, and sleep problems—it actually is that easy. The only downside? Doctors aren't convinced that all of the tests available for at-home use are necessary, or more importantly, accurate.

It's easy to understand why…

read full article

Featured

  FDA Approves 1st At-Home Coronavirus Test

The first COVID-19 diagnostic at-home self-test that provides rapid results has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency announced Tuesday. The Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit is a molecular single-use test and is expected to cost $50 or less, the company said on its website.

  The race to make coronavirus testing as easy as a pregnancy test

The race to make coronavirus testing as easy as a pregnancy test https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21277347/covid-19-testing-at-home-accuracy Rapid at-home tests are in the works, but without oversight, they could fail to live up to their potential.

  The Rise Of At-Home Lab Tests

If I had to name which futuristic healthcare innovations are the easiest to put into practice now that can really make a difference in people’s lives today, I’d say one of those is definitely at-home testing.

 At Home Lab Testing

Curious about at home lab testing? We were too! In this article we compiled a list of some of the more popular at home lab tests, highlighting key info to help you decide which (or if) one is right for you!

 At-home health tests are booming amid coronavirus. Experts warn about their safety

“Some of these tests have never been checked for reliability or accuracy,” said Liz Richardson, who studies the regulation of medical products for the Pew Charitable Trusts. “Even very good tests sometimes get it wrong.”

 At-home tests: Help or hindrance?

Remember urinating on a stick to find out if you were pregnant? Now you can also test your DNA, reveal urinary tract infections (UTIs) or sexually transmitted infections (STIs), predict ovulation, and learn if you're transitioning to menopause. You can measure cholesterol and blood sugar levels, tease out food sensitivities, and hunt for signs of colorectal cancer.

 Blood, spit and swabs: can you trust home medical-testing kits?

Is posting off your bodily fluids to a DIY health-testing company the future of healthcare or just too much information?

 How accurate are the results from self-testing for covid-19 at home?

How accurate are the results from self-testing for covid-19 at home? https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632823-200-how-accurate-are-the-results-from-self-testing-for-covid-19-at-home/ IN THE UK, essential workers are now among those being sent home testing kits for coronavirus. This involves swabbing the inside of your own nose and the back of your throat, but how useful are the results? Studies from early in the outbreak in China have suggested that swabs taken by healthcare professionals may give a 30 per cent “false negative” rate, where infected people are told they don’t have the virus. This has prompted claims that self-testing will give even more false negatives and could raise the risk of infected people spreading the virus.

 What’s Driving the Boom in At-Home Medical Tests?

Some say direct-to-consumer diagnostic kits, currently available for everything from food sensitivity to Lyme disease, offer the convenience and low cost that a doctor’s visit lacks. Others argue they’re more harmful than helpful.

Articles of Interest

At-Home Medical Tests Are Putting the Power of the Clinic in Your Hands

Today, at-home assessments can test for much more than pregnancy. You can pick up tests for urinary tract infections, assess fertility by way of ovarian egg reserve, and check for sexually transmitted diseases at your local pharmacy. Even genetic testing kits like 23andMe are now available at retailers like Walmart. The internet holds other types of kits to help consumers discover everything from their ancestry to their complete microbiome.

Know Thyself

Don’t let the Theranos saga fool you: we’ve entered a new era of self-quantification, in which on-demand blood testing is sold as the easy way to fine-tune your training and nutrition. Can an algorithm really replace your coach?

Are on-demand, at-home blood tests better for our health?

In the age of internet retail, products once available only in brick-and-mortar stores are now arriving on our doorsteps. And by cutting out the “middleman," or storefronts, products are often more affordable and easier to access than before. But what if that middleman is your doctor? And those products … medical tests?

Do-It-Yourself Medical Technology

These gadgets are more powerful than ever, and they can be wonderful or terrible.

Home self-testing kits: helpful or harmful?

Over recent years access to self-testing kits (part of the direct-to-consumer testing market) has been expanding. These tests may be purchased online or in pharmacies and are performed without input from health professionals. Samples taken are either processed at home or sent to a laboratory, and may offer screening, diagnosis, monitoring, or information about the risk of a disease. These tests are likely to generate additional primary care consultations as they become more widely available.

The Truth About Home Medical Tests

Some might not be reliable. Here are the ones to use and the ones to avoid.

Resources

5 At-Home Medical Tests That Aren't Worth Your Money

Between Dr. Google and the explosion of available at-home medical tests, it's easier than ever to diagnose yourself—with infertility, food allergies, and basically anything else you're concerned about—in the comfort of your own bathroom. But before you crown yourself king of home diagnostics, take a look at which tests are likely to give you some unreliable health verdicts.

9 promising at-home lab test startups for everything from fertility to STDs

It’s easier than ever to skip the doctor and go straight for the at-home test these days, thanks to updated regulations and the technology to match — and for many, it’s the answer to invasive and expensive hospital visits.

Everlywell

Everlywell makes lab testing easy and convenient with at-home collection and digital results in days.

HealthConfirm

Our at-home health tests were created with one goal in mind: to empower you to take control of your health and provide meaningful, actionable insights.

Home Access

Since 1996, Home Access has been providing FDA-Approved and doctor recommended laboratory testing services that require just a few drops of self-collected fingerstick blood.

Home Health Testing

Home Health Testing® is one of the pioneers offering home health test kits on the Internet - we opened our first web site in 1996. Our business philosophy is simple. We offer laboratory quality FDA approved home health tests and home drug test kits at reasonable prices to the consumer.

imaware

From assessing your heart health to understanding allergies and more, our tests help you take the first step in answering some of life's most important personal health questions.

LetsGetChecked

Our purpose is to empower people to live longer, happier lives.

MintRx

MintRx is a Cloud Health Care Company offering telemedicine, custom-compounded prescriptions, thousands of manufactured medications, natural products and at-home lab testing.

myLAB

At-home tests for wellness, nutrition, fertility, at home test for STDs and more. Get lab results fast. No co-pays or doctor visits required.

TestCountry

TestCountry offers a very wide variety of home testing kits and various laboratory testing services for parents, individuals, non-profit or government organizations and all size businesses.

Cologuard

The Cologuard test result should be interpreted with caution. A positive test result does not confirm the presence of cancer. Patients with a positive test result should be referred for diagnostic colonoscopy. A negative test result does not confirm the absence of cancer.

uBiome

uBiome uses machine learning, artificial intelligence, and advanced statistical techniques, as well as our patented precision sequencing™ process to analyze the microbes in your sample. Test once, or track your microbiome over time – the choice is yours.

Drug Test Your Teen

We offer several inexpensive, accurate, FDA-cleared drug, alcohol, and tobacco tests that are easy to use in the privacy of your own home. Whether you are trying to prevent drug use, discover possible drug use, stop current use, or just be reassured that a teen is on the right road, home testing will help.

SmartJane

SmartJane™ is the first women’s health screening test to simultaneously check multiple conditions – including HPV, STIs and other vaginal factors – all from one sample.

SpermCheck Fertility

SpermCheck Fertility is an accurate, affordable and easy-to-use home test for determining your sperm count. Fertility experts estimate that male fertility issues are the culprit in at least 40% of couples who are experiencing difficulty in conceiving, and point to low sperm count as one of the main causes of male sub-fertility and infertility.

TMS

Proven quality that is FDA-approved, CLIA-certified, or market proven.