Blood tests to measure vitamin D deficiency are among the most frequently ordered tests in medicine.Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?
But a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study of two new vitamin D tests found the kits are inaccurate in many cases. Earle W. Holmes, PhD, presented findings at ENDO 2012, the 94th Annual Meeting and Expo in Houston.
Holmes and colleagues examined how well the two new tests, Abbott Architect and Siemans Centaur2, performed on 163 randomly selected blood samples. In 40 percent of the Abbott Architect specimens and 48 percent of the Siemans Centaur2 specimens, results were at least 25 percent too high or 25 percent too low. (The maximum recommended total allowable error is plus-or-minus 25 percent.)
"There has been an exponential increase in the number of vitamin D tests ordered for patients," Holmes said. "But our study of two newly approved tests showed they had pretty poor performance."
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Potential Overtreatment Of Vitamin D Deficiency Following Inaccurate Vitamin D Tests
More bad news for the cure du jour.
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