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At-home diagnostic tests: Self-diagnosis kits for disease testing

Confidence in at-home testing kits is increasing as more people prefer do-it-yourself diagnosis.

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Quantumrun Foresight
January 17, 2023

Medical technology (MedTech) companies are rolling out next-generation self-diagnostic kits for several diseases after observing increased customer willingness to use them. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that essential services like healthcare can be disrupted at any moment, and there is a need for tools that enable remote diagnostics.

At-home diagnostic tests context

At-home diagnostic tests are conducted using over-the-counter kits claiming to check for symptoms of certain diseases without the need to go to a clinic or hospital. These kits became popular during the pandemic that saw the world under lockdown, creating the need for COVID tests that could be conducted at home. At the start of the pandemic, health test kit company LetsGetChecked reported that demand for their products surged 880 percent in 2020.

Simultaneously, Hepatitis-C cases saw a spike as the opioid crisis worsened, and stay-at-home orders meant fewer people prioritized symptoms other than that of COVID. Still others remained hesitant to visit hospitals for fear of contagion. As a result, California-based diagnostics company Cepheid designed several tests for COVID and smaller machines to run them.

As people began to trust such kits, the demand for tests for vitamin deficiencies, Lyme disease, cholesterol levels, and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) also saw a spike. Businesses started addressing the gap in the market, and several tests became available to cater to the growing demand. The at-home diagnostics industry is even predicted to grow to $2 billion by 2025, according to clinical laboratory Quest Diagnostics. However, researchers warn against basing health decisions upon such kits as many of them, like those testing for Alzheimer-related memory problems, have claims too ambitious to be true.

Disruptive impact

Given the growing demand, MedTech businesses can be expected to increase investment into developing simpler diagnostic kits. The competition will likely result in more cost-effective and accurate products available to the public. And with an increasing number of people developing diabetes and high blood pressure worldwide, these kits will become the first method for self-diagnosis, particularly for those who can’t afford immediate healthcare.

Meanwhile, with some countries still requiring COVID tests for unvaccinated passengers, the demand for diagnostic kits for this disease will only continue to grow. Governments, in particular, will remain one of the primary clients for at-home COVID tests as they continue to monitor their respective populations. The same trend will likely happen for future pandemics and epidemics, where national health departments will deploy millions of DIY diagnostics tests. Combined with apps and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices, these kits can help countries accurately track pandemic hotspots and provide more effective solutions.

Some companies, like Quest Diagnostics, are partnering with giant retailers like Walmart to expand their offerings. These partnerships will result in consumers having more than 50 tests to choose from. However, there might be a worrying trend of people overly relying on these kits instead of going to clinics to seek confirmation or appropriate prescriptions. Some might start self-medicating based on the test results, which can lead to worsening health conditions. It's essential that regulators emphasize that these tests are not a replacement for doctors. Not yet, anyway.

Implications of at-home diagnostics kits

Wider implications of at-home diagnostics may include:

Increased availability of diagnostics in remote areas that don’t have immediate access to healthcare providers. This availability may help reduce unnecessary clinic or hospital visits long term.
Governments partnering with diagnostics firms to create more accurate and reliable at-home tests to help save costs on national health programs.
Streamlined processes in clinics where people are immediately assigned to the right physician based on the results of their remote diagnostic.
The increasing use of apps, sensors, and wearables to track the progress of remote patients.
Increased incidents of people wrongly medicating due to inaccurate test results, leading to fatalities or overdosing.