Unless you completely avoid social media, there’s a good chance you’ve seen influencer posts promoting direct-to-consumer medical tests like full-body MRI scans or “egg timer” fertility assessments.
A new study suggests you should scroll on by.
Researchers examined about 1,000 posts from social media influencers with a combined total of more than 194 million followers that touted the benefits of these five types of medical tests you can get without seeing your doctor first:
“These tests are controversial, as they all lack evidence of net benefit for healthy people and can lead to harms including overdiagnosis and overuse of the medical system,” says the lead study author, Brooke Nickel, PhD, a master of international public health and a senior research fellow in public health at the University of Sydney in Australia. “If information about medical tests on social media sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Influencers May Benefit Financially From Promoting Medical Tests
In the study, 68 percent of the influencers had financial interests in promoting medical tests such as partnerships, sponsorships, or a share of proceeds from sales, the study found.
“Influencers are incentivized to overstate benefits and minimize harms, and many do not have the training needed to vet the science behind products,” says Lauren Westafer, DO, MPH, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at UMass Chan Medical School Baystate in Springfield, Massachusetts.
“Given that most influencers have a sponsorship or generate revenue through link clicks and similar mechanisms, I immediately hear alarm bells ring with each of these types of posts,” says Dr. Westafer, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
Potential Risks of Direct-to-Consumer Medical Tests
At the same time, just 6 percent of the posts mentioned two of the main potential risks of direct-to-consumer medical tests: overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
People swayed by influencers to try these tests can experience needless pain, anxiety, and suffering, especially if results suggest serious health issues that lead them to do even more testing and checkups, says Alex Sheng, MD, an associate professor and the residency program director at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
“A false positive test can lead to a lot of worries and further downstream tests that can be invasive, painful, or even cause permanent harm,” says Dr. Sheng, who wasn’t involved in the new study. And “a false negative test can falsely reassure someone.”
Listen to Your Gut — ‘SIFT’ Through the Noise
- Stop. Consider your emotional response before sharing posts and be wary of content that’s designed to get clicks.
- Investigate the source. Try to look up the author or creator of the post and see if they have any financial incentives to promote something or credentials to suggest they have expertise.
- Find better coverage. Look for trusted sources of information that use fact-checkers and can back their claims with scientific evidence. Websites that can help vet information include FactCheck.org and Snopes.com.
- Trace claims to their original source. If you can’t find a credible source for claims in a post, that’s a red flag that it’s misinformation.
At the end of the day, however, social media posts often have few facts to check, and are based more on hyperbolic ideas and emotional appeals, says Westafer. The best way to sort fact from fiction is often to speak to the doctor who knows you and your medical history best, Westafer adds.
“There is a lot of misinformation online, particularly on social media sources, and anything can seem glamorous in edited reels and curated stories,” Westafer says. “As a result, the most credible sources are doctors who aren’t necessarily pushing these tests — often this is someone’s primary care physician.”
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