Health Test Kits – Diagnostic for Your Life.

The history of express health tests is short; the first developments appeared around a hundred years ago. But they became widely known and publicly available only fifty years later. At the same time, the list of such health tests that could be used at home was limited to pregnancy tests, and later became wider. Today I would divide all rapid health diagnostic tests into two large groups: test kits that require professional personnel or equipment; and test systems that are so simple that they practically eliminate the possibility of error.

Like all medical devices, rapid health testing kits are subject to oversight and regulation by the FDA. Rapid tests available for at-home use are labeled OTC, or “over the counter”. And according to the rules of CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments), such express health test kits are under the CLIA-WAIVED category. This is necessary to know in order to understand the likelihood of error in assessing test results and to purchase the right health test kit.

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Home Health Testing Kits – Most Common Categories

Home health test kits offer many options based on the theme of diagnostic and can be divided into the next groups:

1. Fertility home test kits, including pregnancy tests, ovulation predictors, and menopause tests. They come in a variety of formats, from the most affordable test strips up to the complicated devices with microelectronics. Also, fertility home test kits are qualitative and may have different cutoff levels. Remember that the higher the sensitivity of the test, the greater the probability of error. It is necessary to keep in mind that a pregnancy test determines the level of hormone hGH in the urine, but not the fact of pregnancy. Therefore, a positive pregnancy test result must be qualified as preliminary positive. There are several issues which could produce false positive test results.
2. The next large group of tests are Substance abuse test kits . These tests are sought after by several groups, including concerned parents, labor employers, medical personnel, and law enforcement personnel. There is generally a huge variety of formats here. Again, starting with the most accessible urine test strips and ending with saliva tests that detect several groups of drugs in one test. Again, I must remind you that in order to submit to the court, the results of rapid tests are considered preliminary and if it is positive, then laboratory confirmation is required.
3. Recent advances in biotechnology have made it possible to create home Rapid tests for identifying various diseases. The recent COVID pandemic has shown the need for such tests and confirmed their high effectiveness. This group includes home rapid tests for infectious diseases, cancer markers, cardiac markers and some others. They have a high accuracy of results, but I will repeat again that the results of all home rapid health tests should be considered only as preliminary. Especially when it comes to such serious diseases as cancer or AIDS. Most rapid tests for detecting serious diseases are intended exclusively for use in a hospital or doctor’s office.
4. It is impossible to describe the entire range of home express tests, especially since many of them are known to you. These include Glucose (blood sugar) tests, Fecal occult blood test kits, DNA tests, Genetic tests that may reveal if you are at a higher risk group and many others.

Home health diagnostic express test kits require taking a body fluid sample (blood, urine, or saliva) and using it as directed. Some tests give immediate results, while others need to be sent to a lab. You can buy many kits without a prescription, but it’s best to consult your healthcare provider for advice on which ones to use.