在线医学检测订单正在增加，但在应对自我诊断风险方面可能会付出代价。 我们的研究揭示了这种方便但危险的健康趋势的负面影响。 在新冠疫情期间，我们中的许多人都进行了无数次快速抗原检测。 在家测试自己已成为第二天性。 但是，直接向公众在线销售的医学检测在全球范围内也有一个不断增长的市场。 这些是“直接面向消费者”的测试，你可以在不看医生的情况下使用它们。 虽然这听起来很方便，但正如我们在最近的一项研究中发现的那样，对大多数消费者的好处是值得怀疑的。 什么是直接面向消费者的测试？让我们从它们不是什么开始。 我们谈论的不是那些被诊断出患有某种疾病并使用测试来监测自己的患者（例如，手指点刺测试来监测糖尿病患者的血糖水平）。 我们也不是在谈论用于人群筛查的家庭检测试剂盒，如新冠肺炎大鼠，或发送给50岁及以上人群进行癌症肠癌筛查的“粪便检测”。 直接面向消费者的测试是向任何愿意付费的人销售的产品，而无需经过他们的gp。 它们可以包括激素谱测试、甲状腺疾病测试和食物敏感性测试等。 一些直接面向消费者的测试可以让你在家里完成测试，而自行收集的实验室测试则为你提供了收集样本的设备，然后将其发送到实验室。 你现在也可以直接从公司购买实验室的病理学申请，而无需看医生。 在新冠疫情期间，我们都习惯了老鼠。 我们在研究中所做的是，我们（通过谷歌）搜索了2021年6月至12月期间在澳大利亚在线销售的直接面向消费者的产品广告。 然后，我们根据发表的关于这些测试的科学文献，以及专业医疗组织提出的任何支持或反对使用它们的建议，评估了每种测试是否有可能为使用它们的人带来好处。 我们确定了103种测试类型和484种单独的产品，价格从12澳元不等。 99至1947澳元。 我们得出的结论是，这些测试中只有11%可能使大多数消费者受益。 其中包括stis检测，社会污名有时会阻碍人们去诊所进行检测。 如果一个人面临更高的风险，再增加31%可能会使他们受益。 例如，如果一个人有甲状腺疾病的症状，测试可能对他们有益。 但澳大利亚皇家全科医生学院不建议对没有症状的人进行甲状腺疾病检测，因为缺乏证据表明识别和治疗早期甲状腺疾病的益处。 约42%是商业“健康检查”，如激素和营养状况测试。 尽管这些都是合法的测试——在某些情况下可能由医生订购，或用于研究——但它们对消费者的用处有限。 在特定时间对你的激素或维生素水平进行测试对改善你的健康没有多大帮助，尤其是因为测试结果会根据你测试的时间、月份或季节而变化。 最令人担忧的是，17%的测试完全是“庸医”，任何主流健康从业者都不会推荐。 例如，用于评估食物过敏的毛发分析未经证实，可能导致误诊和无效治疗。 我们观察的测试中，超过一半的测试没有说明他们提供了测试前或测试后的咨询。 在我们研究的时间范围之外，可用的产品可能会发生变化，不包括未在网上推广或直接购买的直接面向消费者的测试，如药店或商业健康诊所提供的测试。 但在澳大利亚，我们的研究是我们所知的第一项也是唯一一项关于绘制网上销售的直接面向消费者测试的规模和种类的研究。 其他国家的研究也同样发现，缺乏证据支持大多数直接面向消费者的测试。 在线订购体检可能不是个好主意。 在线购买测试前要问的4个问题许多直接面向消费者的测试提供的好处有限，甚至可能导致危害。 如果你考虑在网上购买体检，你应该问自己四个问题。 one。 如果我做这个测试，我会得到额外的医疗预约或不需要的治疗吗？自己做测试可能看起来无害（毕竟这只是信息），但不必要的测试往往会发现一些永远不会给你带来问题的问题。 例如，接受糖尿病测试的人可能会发现血糖水平中等偏高，并将其标记为“糖尿病前期”。 然而，这一诊断一直存在争议，许多人认为这会使患者脱离健康人群，其中许多人不会继续发展为糖尿病。 two。 我的gp会推荐这个测试吗？如果你有令人担忧的症状或风险因素，你的gp可以为你推荐最好的测试。 检测你的gp订单更有可能被医疗保险覆盖，因此你的费用将比直接面向消费者的检测低得多。 three。 这是一次质量好的测试吗？一个高质量的家庭自我检测试剂盒应该表明高灵敏度（将准确检测到的真实病例的比例）和高特异性（将准确排除的非疾病患者的比例）。 这些数字最好在90年代中期，并清楚地印在产品包装上。 对于在实验室进行分析的测试，请检查实验室是否获得了国家测试机构协会的认证。 避免将检测发送到海外实验室，因为在那里澳大利亚监管机构无法控制质量，也无法保护您的样本或个人健康信息。 four。 我真的需要这个测试吗？想要从测试中获得信息有很多原因，比如内心的平静，或者只是好奇。 但是，除非你有明确的症状和风险因素，否则你可能会进行不必要的自我检测，浪费你的钱。 直接面对消费者的测试似乎是个好主意，但在大多数情况下，如果你感觉良好，最好让睡觉的狗躺着，如果你有顾虑，最好去看医生。 这篇文章最初发表在对话中：你现在可以在线订购各种医学检查了。 我们的研究表明这（大部分）是个坏主意。 这本书是由fiona•斯坦纳韦副教授和公共卫生学院的凯蒂•贝尔教授以及卧龙岗大学的斯特拉西•卡特和帕蒂•施教授共同撰写的。 这本书是由fiona•斯坦纳韦副教授和公共卫生学院的凯蒂•贝尔教授以及卧龙岗大学的斯特拉西•卡特和帕蒂•施教授共同撰写的。online medical test orders are on the rise but may come at a cost in navigating the risks of self-diagnosis. our research uncovers the downsides of this convenient yet risky health trend.many of us have done countless rapid antigen tests (rats) over the course of the pandemic. testing ourselves at home has become second nature.but there’s also a growing worldwide market in medical tests sold online directly to the public. these are “direct-to-consumer” tests, and you can access them without seeing a doctor.while this might sound convenient, the benefits to most consumers are questionable, as we discovered in a recent study.what are direct-to-consumer tests?let’s start with what they’re not. we’re not talking about patients who are diagnosed with a condition, and use tests to monitor themselves (for example, finger-prick testing to monitor blood sugar levels for people with diabetes).we’re also not talking about home testing kits used for population screening, such as rats for covid, or the “poo tests” sent to people aged 50 and over for bowel cancer screening.direct-to-consumer tests are products marketed to anyone who is willing to pay, without going through their gp. they can include hormone profiling tests, tests for thyroid disease and food sensitivity tests, among many others.some direct-to-consumer tests allow you to complete the test at home, while self-collected lab tests give you the equipment to collect a sample, which you then send to a lab. you can now also buy pathology requests for a lab directly from a company without seeing a doctor.we’ve all become accustomed to rats during the pandemic.what we did in our studywe searched (via google) for direct-to-consumer products advertised for sale online in australia between june and december 2021. we then assessed whether each test was likely to provide benefits to those who use them based on scientific literature published about the tests, and any recommendations either for or against their use from professional medical organisations.we identified 103 types of tests and 484 individual products ranging in price from a$12.99 to a$1,947.we concluded only 11% of these tests were likely to benefit most consumers. these included tests for stis, where social stigma can sometimes discourage people from testing at a clinic.a further 31% could possibly benefit a person, if they were at higher risk. for example, if a person had symptoms of thyroid disease, a test may benefit them. but the royal australian college of general practitioners does not recommend testing for thyroid disease in people without symptoms because evidence showing benefits of identifying and treating people with early thyroid disease is lacking.some 42% were commercial “health checks” such as hormone and nutritional status tests. although these are legitimate tests – they may be ordered by a doctor in certain circumstances, or be used in research – they have limited usefulness for consumers.a test of your hormone or vitamin levels at a particular time can’t do much to help you improve your health, especially because test results change depending on the time of day, month or season you test.most worryingly, 17% of the tests were outright “quackery” that wouldn’t be recommended by any mainstream health practitioner. for example, hair analysis for assessing food allergies is unproven and can lead to misdiagnosis and ineffective treatments.more than half of the tests we looked at didn’t state they offered a pre- or post-test consultation.products available may change outside the time frame of our study, and direct-to-consumer tests not promoted or directly purchasable online, such as those offered in pharmacies or by commercial health clinics, were not included.but in australia, ours is the first and only study we know of mapping the scale and variety of direct-to-consumer tests sold online.research from other countries has similarly found a lack of evidence to support the majority of direct-to-consumer tests.ordering medical tests online probably isn’t a good idea.4 questions to ask before you buy a test onlinemany direct-to-consumer tests offer limited benefits, and could even lead to harms. here are four questions you should ask yourself if you’re considering buying a medical test online.1. if i do this test, could i end up with extra medical appointments or treatments i don’t need?doing a test yourself might seem harmless (it’s just information, after all), but unnecessary tests often find issues that would never have caused you problems.for example, someone taking a diabetes test may find moderately high blood sugar levels see them labelled as “pre-diabetic”. however, this diagnosis has been controversial, regarded by many as making patients out of healthy people, a large number of whom won’t go on to develop diabetes.2. would my gp recommend this test?if you have worrying symptoms or risk factors, your gp can recommend the best tests for you. tests your gp orders are more likely to be covered by medicare, so will cost you a lot less than a direct-to-consumer test.3. is this a good quality test?a good quality home self-testing kit should indicate high sensitivity (the proportion of true cases that will be accurately detected) and high specificity (the proportion of people who don’t have the disease who will be accurately ruled out). these figures should ideally be in the high 90s, and clearly printed on the product packaging.for tests analysed in a lab, check if the lab is accredited by the national association of testing authorities. avoid tests sent to overseas labs, where australian regulators can’t control the quality, or the protection of your sample or personal health information.4. do i really need this test?there are lots of reasons to want information from a test, like peace of mind, or just curiosity. but unless you have clear symptoms and risk factors, you’re probably testing yourself unnecessarily and wasting your money.direct-to-consumer tests might seem like a good idea, but in most cases, you’d be better off letting sleeping dogs lie if you feel well, or going to your gp if you have concerns.this article was original published on the conversation as: you can now order all kinds of medical tests online. our research shows this is (mostly) a bad idea. it was written by associate professor fiona stanaway and professor katy bell from the school of public health with professor stracy carter and patti shih from the university of wollongong. .本文来源： 在线医学测试背后的现实
亲，点击此处在线申请留学咨询服务和报名评估！我们将竭诚提供最佳评估服务！
