A new study is shedding light on the role of influencers who continue to instill fear on social media about highly debatable medical tests. The information is not only misleading but also does not highlight the great harm that such actions can produce.
The news comes to us thanks to a new study shared by the University of Sydney in the AMA journal JAMA Network Open. They were seen investigating five different tests that were shared in detail online despite the evidence being limited on the benefits of healthy individuals and the limitations of overdiagnosis.
These included so many kinds of tests. Of special note were full MRI scans and genetic tests, which could detect the early signs of more than 50 kinds of cancers. Then there was even an egg timer test that could determine a female’s reproductive egg count.
The study showed how there were more than 100 posts published for every test through apps like TikTok and Instagram between 2015 to 2024. And some of the followers of these influencers were in the hundreds of millions. So you can only imagine the damage that they were doing, willingly.
The lead author for the study, Dr. Brooke Nickel says that the tests ranged from users with different accounts and some of them were big names while others were on a more low scale. Whatever the case might be, it’s sad that such information keeps getting promoted misleadingly.
Health experts claim that such tests are not only harmful but give rise to unnecessary information or diagnosis which could again mean useless medical treatments or dangerous effects on your mental health.
Some of the posts were really intriguing and it started to instill fear that if a test wasn’t done, it would mean you’re compromising on your health and long life.
One user with over 65k followers spoke about the gut microbiome test being done in the early stage and if not, you’ll never know the specific illness that you’re suffering from.
As per the study’s results, more than 87% of the tests featured its benefits but less than 15% spoke about the dangers of the tests. Only 6% shared the harm of overusing or overdiagnosis.
So the question is why these tests are being promoted so much. Well, it’s simple. Where there are financial incentives involved, you’re likely to see an influencer take on the project to mint more money, even if it comes at a serious cost to people’s health.
One medical expert shared how early detection tests including multi-screening for cancer were necessary as you get older so doing the test every year was important to detect cancer. That is not true as some tests are invasive and doing them every two or three years is enough.
So the take-home message from this study is that not everything you read online should be tried and tested without evidence. Overdiagnosis can give rise to more mental stress and unnecessary treatments such as huge surgery.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World
