The longevity movement has become synonymous with testing in the last few years. In some places this is a good thing (increasing coverage of Lp(a) testing for example) but it gives me some cause for concern. Not all tests are equally useful and no test is perfect so simply adding more and more tests will not necessarily bring you the outcomes that you want.
I think about tests a lot and some of the things I worry about are to do with how accurate the test is. What is the rate of false negatives? That will determine how many people might have missed diagnosis when the test is used. What is the false positive rate? How many people will be get incorrect information that causes unnecessary anxiety.
No test is perfect and all will give a certain number of false negatives and false positives. This is why clinical tests are regulated and go through extensive research and development so that clinicians can make informed decisions about how to interpret them.
These built in inaccuracies mean that there is risk that in adding more and more tests you do not get more insights you just get more information that might be contradictory and not useful.
All this means that there needs to be a good reason to do any clinical test which for me requires two things:
- The test needs to reliably tell you something about the risk of a disease.
- You need to be able to do something about it
That second part is critical and where many tests fall down. What is the use of having lots of potentially worrying information if you can’t use it to be healthier? I therefore only advocate for tests which can give actionable insights that will help people live healthier and longer lives.
Next time you hear about a new type of testing, especially if you are being asked to pay for it, I suggest you think about what you would actually do with the information. Ask yourself: Will this meaningfully help me towards a better and longer life?
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All the views expressed here are based on careful research conducted by the research team at Niahealth. However, in some places we have omitted certain details for the sake of clarity and simplicity. If you have any questions about our research or the content of this blog email our head of research Dr Robin Brown at : robin@niahealth.co
