{"id":356787,"date":"2026-03-31T12:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/356787\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:38:09","slug":"looking-for-trouble-the-risks-of-consumer-health-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/356787\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking for trouble: The risks of consumer health testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Patient-initiated blood tests and imaging are becoming easier to access, raising questions about clinical oversight and the downstream impact on the system [Image: alashi on iStock (edited)]<\/p>\n<p>Private providers are selling wellness scans and direct-toconsumer tests as a way to \u201cget ahead of the drama\u201d. Orna McGinn says the evidence tells a different story<\/p>\n<p>References<\/p>\n<p>1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cdFWSlJVGLI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Astra Wellness Scans<\/a>. YouTube. <\/p>\n<p>2. <a href=\"https:\/\/bodyiq.co.nz\/products\/hormone-profile-female\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BODYiQ. Hormone Bundle Female.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>3. Andermann A, Blancquaert I, Beauchamp S, et al. Revisiting Wilson and Jungner in the genomic age: a review of screening criteria over the past 40 years. Bull World Health Organ. 2008 Apr;86(4):317-9. doi: 10.2471\/blt.07.050112. PMID: 18438522; PMCID: PMC2647421. <\/p>\n<p>4. O\u2019Sullivan J, Muntinga T, Grigg S, et al. Prevalence and outcomes of incidental imaging findings: umbrella review. BMJ. 2018;361:k2387. doi:10.1136\/bmj.k2387 <\/p>\n<p>5. Ganguli I, Simpkin AL, Lupo C, et al. Cascades of care after incidental findings in a US national survey of physicians. JAMA Network Open. 2019;2(10):e1913325. <\/p>\n<p>6. Te Tirat\u016b Iwi M\u0101ori Partnership Board. Priority 6: Key insights \u2013 identification and treatment pathways for cancers. June 2025. <\/p>\n<p>7. Canadian Institute for Health Information; Choosing Wisely Canada. Unnecessary care in Canada. Ottawa: CIHI; 2017. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patient-initiated blood tests and imaging are becoming easier to access, raising questions about clinical oversight and the downstream&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-356787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}