Health

Be wary of web diagnoses, Harvard Medical study says

A new study calls into question the accuracy of online “symptom checkers.’’

Don’t think of your laptop as your personal doctor— online symptom checkers still tell two-thirds of those with conditions they could manage on their own to get medical attention despite not needing it. Flickr/jfcherry

By Kristin Toussaint @kristindakota

July 10, 2015

1 minute to read

Have you ever typed your symptoms into WebMD only to get a life-threatening diagnoses, causing you to then freak out over your rapidly dwindling health?

Well—if your mom hasn’t already warned you—you should be critical of those diagnoses, because “symptom checkers’’ are often wrong, according to a new Harvard Medical School study.

According to The Boston Globe, the study, which was published this week in the medical journal BMJ, is the first evaluation of the online fad of forgoing an in-person doctor’s visit in favor of typing in your symptoms and receiving an automated list of possible illnesses and treatment advice.

WebMD’s symptom checker may be the most well known, but it isn’t the only one—iTriage and FreeMD are also popular.

The Harvard study found a high rate of wrong answers, but Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a Harvard health care policy professor and study author, told the Globe “they do provide some information.’’

Just make sure to get a second opinion before you start a home remedy.

Read the full Globe report here.

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