{"id":286805,"date":"2025-07-24T02:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T02:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/286805\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T02:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T02:40:09","slug":"shop-bought-health-testing-kits-inaccurate-and-unsuitable-study-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/286805\/","title":{"rendered":"Shop-bought health testing kits &#8216;inaccurate and unsuitable&#8217;, study says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Researchers at the University of Birmingham collected and analysed 30 self-test kits, costing between \u00a31.89 and \u00a339.99, in 2023. These included tests for conditions such as bowel cancer, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid issues, HIV, and the menopause.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The researchers concluded that only 14 of the kits they looked at included any statement about accuracy, and fewer than a quarter gave clear guidance on next steps after receiving a result.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">They also found that nearly half advised users to consult a healthcare professional regardless of the result, something experts warn could place additional pressure on NHS services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Prof Jon Deeks, who led the research, said current regulations do not go far enough to protect consumers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Self-tests have a clear potential to improve public health. However, for them to be beneficial and not harmful, they must be proven to be accurate, easy to use, and supported by clear instructions,&#8221; he said.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers at the University of Birmingham collected and analysed 30 self-test kits, costing between \u00a31.89 and \u00a339.99, in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-286805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114905902278247890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}