Direct-to-Consumer Lab Tests Raise Ethical Questions, Researchers Say

MedPage Today September 18, 2023
Judy George

— Privacy policies, terms of sale often are unclear

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) laboratory tests — for the thyroid, hormonal biomarkers, or diabetes and hemoglobin A1c, for example — often had unclear terms of sale and vague privacy policies, a qualitative study showed.

Of 21 U.S. companies that offered DTC lab tests, less than half declared compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and less than a quarter specified protections for biological samples, according to Louiza Kalokairinou, PhD, of the Baylor College of Medicine Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy in Houston, and co-authors.

More than half stated consumer data potentially could be used for research purposes, either internally or through a third party, Kalokairinou and colleagues reported...

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