What does a positive genetic test mean? The example of coeliac disease

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• Format Videos
• Language/s English
• Target Audience Further education
• EBM Stage 3 - Appraising evidence
• Duration 5-15 mins
• Difficulty Advanced

Key Concepts addressed

• Beware of claims like these
• 1-3a Beware of conflicting interests

Details

In this 6 minute video tutorial, Amanda Burls explores the ways in which evidence about the effectiveness of genetic testing can be misrepresented in advertising

Direct to patient advertising by 23andMe does not give a correct impression about the usefulness of genetic testing and the meaning of a positive test result. Using a clip from a 23andMe promotional video, Amanda Burls of ThinkWell takes you through the actual numbers to show that the test does not diagnose celiac disease as people might have concluded by watching the advertising.

This has been produced with no funding and the author, Dr Amanda Burls, declares that she has no financial or other conflict of interest.

If you want to know more about making sense of health research and scientific evidence, then visit the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme for more learning materials.