Private Menopause Tests Risk Undermining Nhs Care, Doctors Say

Expensive, over-the-counter hormone tests for menopause are clinically useless and consequence undermining women’s healthcare, elder doctors person warned.

The testing kits, offered by backstage clinics and disposable to bargain for self-testing, declare to connection tailored insights done measuring hormone levels. But they person been described by experts arsenic misleading and medically unnecessary.

“There are tons of backstage healthcare and telehealth clinics offering tests and expanding numbers of medically untrained, self-proclaimed ‘experts’ giving proposal connected societal media and podcasts to get these tests done,” said Dr Stephanie Sterry, who precocious co-wrote an editorial for nan BMJ titled Menopause Misinformation is Harming Care.

“Unfortunately, these tests are not evidence-based,” she added. “They’re not giving america immoderate caller accusation aliases making curen much effective. All they are doing is encouraging women to walk hundreds of pounds connected tests that don’t make immoderate quality to nan curen they should beryllium given.”

There are 2 types of menopause hormone kits successful nan UK: accelerated urine-based tests – immoderate of which declare to springiness results successful conscionable 2 minutes – and finger-prick humor tests, which are sent for laboratory study pinch results guaranteed successful 1 to 2 days.

Urine tests are disposable successful precocious thoroughfare shops including Asda and Superdrug for astir £8. Blood tests scope from £32 astatine Asda Online to £189 astatine Bluecrest Wellness.

Guidelines from Nice, nan American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and nan British Menopause Society work together that for women complete 45, menopause should beryllium diagnosed based connected symptoms alone. Hormone levels up and down regular and, experts agree, connection nary reliable diagnostic value.

“These tests are marketed to patients and clinicians arsenic basal for ‘individualising’ hormone therapy,” Sterry said. “Yet successful reality, these tests are of constricted objective usage because location is nary intelligibly defined therapeutic model for menopausal hormone therapy, and immoderate testing techniques do not connection meticulous aliases precise appraisal of hormone levels.”

For perimenopause and menopause, she added, hormone testing offers nary reliable measurement to find who will use from treatment, erstwhile nan last menstrual play will hap aliases whether it is safe to discontinue contraception.

Dr Paula Briggs, chair of nan British Menopause Society, agreed. “Things person gone very wrong,” she said. “The increasing fame of these tests has led to women having unrealistic expectations astir what HRT tin connection – peculiarly astir intelligence unwellness and nan beingness of a ‘quick fix’. That, successful turn, leads to nan emergence of unregulated treatments for illustration costly bioidentical hormones.”

Briggs emphasised nan request for collaborative, NHS-led care. She said that she is truthful concerned astir nan commercialisation of women’s wellness that she nary longer practises privately.

Dr Susanna Unsworth, a menopause and women’s wellness specialist, agreed that hormone tests were “absolutely” harming attraction and are a “significant” problem.

“I americium decidedly seeing this more,” she said. “Women often inquire maine earlier their assignment if they request humor tests done first. My reply is almost ever nary but increasingly, they move up pinch pages of results they person organised themselves.

“The problem is, astir of these results cannot beryllium interpreted meaningfully and that puts america some successful a difficult position: nan companies often counsel women to return these results to their menopause doctor, truthful erstwhile I explicate that they do not adhd value, it undermines their spot successful me,” she added.

Dr Martin Thornton, aesculapian head astatine nan backstage session Bluecrest, defended his usage of nan tests.

Pointing retired that they connection a GP consultation pinch nan information results, he said: “A batch of this is astir empowering women by providing them pinch information to correlate to their symptoms, because a batch of nan symptoms are not straightforward.

“Testing allows group to unfastened up a speech pinch their expert and tin thief you understand if it’s nan menopause aliases thing else,” he said.

But Sterry rebutted that: “There is nary grounds that nan symptoms a women experiences successful perimenopause aliases nan severity of those symptoms, correlates to information received from humor tests.

“If a women has symptoms and her tests show nary signs of menopause, past that tin beryllium very confusing,” she added. “This leads to underdiagnosis and undertreatment.

“The rule of evidence-based believe is that a trial should beryllium done only if its consequence will straight guideline diligent care,” she said. “Hormone testing successful menopause curen is not supported by grounds and does not amended care. Treatment should beryllium guided by a patient’s individual symptoms and not by treating nan numbers.”

Asda has been approached for comment. A Superdrug spokesperson said: “Following customer feedback we launched nan FSH [follicle stimulating hormone] trial arsenic women told america that they would for illustration nan prime to beryllium capable to measurement their FSH levels.

“Your consequence comes pinch tailored aesculapian proposal from our doctors based connected a operation of nan appraisal answers, and nan trial result.”