Online tools and services that promote personalized health care need to have tighter government regulation to ensure that they do not mislead or misinform consumers, British medical ethics researchers say in a report issued on Tuesday by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Reuters reports (Kelland, Reuters, 10/12).
Such tools and services include:
For the report, researchers examined:
Report’s Findings
The researchers note that some websites should raise a red flag particularly when they do not indicate who provided the information and what the purpose of sharing the information might be.
They also write that some private DNA tests, which are marketed with the promise of predicting the user’s risks of developing certain diseases, can be “medically or therapeutically meaningless” and could provide results that are “unclear, unreliable or inaccurate” (Moss, Scotsman, 10/12).
In addition, the researchers note that some private, direct-to-consumer CT or MRI scans are falsely marketed as a form of a “health checkup” to individuals who do not have symptoms for any conditions.
As a result, the readings might be difficult to interpret and suggest “abnormalities” that actually are harmless, which might prompt some people to seek unnecessary treatments or other procedures, Reuters reports (Reuters, 10/12).
Recommendations
The report urges government regulators to assume a larger role in monitoring the sale of scans, tests and drugs that are marketed directly to consumers.
It also recommends that firms provide additional information to consumers on:
Source: iHealthBeat
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