Are Home Test Kits Worth It Or A Scam?

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❝Home test kits. Real (useful) or a scam? And how to tell good ones from bad ones❞

The last part there hints at the answer: it depends!

Certainly, not all home test kits are created equal, so in the broadest sense it’s a bit like trying to say whether cars are useful or a scam—it depends on the car, your circumstances, and various other factors.

As with cars, home tests kits can be anything ranging from life-saving to outright fraud.

As with cars, it makes a difference if you can know how to use it, too. In the case of tests, that means not just operatively (i.e. can follow the instructions), but also in terms of interpreting the results, and even before that, simply asking the right questions. Because…

First, why do doctors order tests?

Doctors will order tests to be done for a multitude of reasons, including:

• To find out the information the test will provide, in the hopes it will support or rule out a diagnosis
• To show on the medical record that they did due diligence and were not negligent
• To reassure you that they’re taking you seriously
• To get you out of their office and generally “kick the can down the road” with regard to procrastinating having to actually make a treatment decision
• To sell you something (applicable in places like the US with a for-profit healthcare system)

Private individuals, meanwhile, will tend to order tests for mostly different reasons, including:

• To find out the information the test will provide, in the hopes it will support or rule out a diagnosis
• To find out the information the test will provide, not because they think it’ll be important, but because it seems sensible just in case
• To find out the information the test will provide, out of pure and simple curiosity
• Because they feel like they should be doing something to be healthier, and buying a test kit is easier than developing an exercise habit
• Because the advertising was very compelling

In both cases, some of those are clearly good reasons, and others are a little more questionable.

So, if considering a home test kit, perhaps the first question to ask is “why?”.

Next, will it give you the information you need?

Some home test kits are a lot more reliable than others, and while there are far too many to list here, there are some rules of thumb:

• Tests that give Yes/No answers are usually more reliable than tests that give numerical answers
  • For example, a pregnancy test kit usually has 99% accuracy, whereas a continuous glucose monitor can easily be way out (so can direct testing of blood sugar levels with a fingerprick test, though those are at least more accurate than CGM kits).
  • You may be thinking: haven’t you praised GCM kits before? And yes, we have. But we’ve also urged readers to a) not rely on them, and b) use them to observe the trends, rather than the numbers. In other words, they can be imprecise, but will tend to show when spikes occur, even if they get the numbers of those spikes wrong.
• Tests that test for one thing are usually more reliable than tests that test for many things
  • This means that sometimes tests that offer many things at once are often simply not going to deliver on those promises (just ask Elizabeth Holmes).
  • Similarly, when it comes to personal health genomics, more is not always better when it comes to how many SNPs (or whatever) it’s measuring.
• Tests that require some skill to administer are usually more reliable than tests that practically perform themselves
  • On the easy end of things, if the instructions are basically “pee on this”, that’s hard to get wrong.
  • But in contrast, there are so many ways to mess up when trying to use a blood pressure monitor.

Some examples from our archives:

• 12 Things Your Urine Says About Your Health (Test At Home)
• Try This At Home: ABI Test For Clogged Arteries
• How to test for STIs at home
• The Real Benefit Of Genetic Testing
• Continuous Glucose Monitors Without Diabetes: Pros & Cons

Lastly, what will you do with that information?

Good news: knowledge is power!

Bad news: power can be destructive!

If the intended purpose of a home test kit is to potentially raise a red flag if necessary (so that you can bring it up with your main healthcare provider), that’s probably a good use.

If the intended purpose of a home test kit is to upsell to a cure and/or hop on a treatment train, that can be a problem, and can lead people to take medications that are inappropriate for them.

See also: Are You Taking Potentially Inappropriate Medications?

Want to learn more?

Check out:

Do You Have A Personalized Health Plan? (Here’s How)

Take care!