False, misleading information found on websites selling anti-Müllerian hormone tests

Key takeaways:

• Most websites selling direct-to-consumer anti-Müllerian hormone tests had false and misleading claims.
• Consumers may be misled into believing the tests can predict chances of conception and age of menopause.

Most websites selling direct-to-consumer anti-Müllerian hormone tests had false and misleading claims, possibly leading consumers to believing the tests predict fertility potential and age of menopause, according to researchers.

“In the context of direct-to-consumer testing, consumers’ ability to exercise autonomy and provide informed consent rests entirely on the quality and comprehensiveness of the information provided by the test vendor,” Alexis Johnson, MPH, of the faculty of medicine at the University of Sydney School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote. “For other direct-to-consumer tests, significant limitations in information provision have been identified.”

Johnson and colleagues conducted a qualitative study including content analysis, published in JAMA Network Open, of text information from websites in various countries that sell anti-Müllerian hormone tests directly to consumers. Researchers obtained the top 50 search results from four different internet searches and identified 27 websites across seven countries for the analysis.

Researchers evaluated themes and categories from website content with a specific focus on information content, quality and accuracy as well as tone and language.

Of all studied websites, 33% originated from the U.S., 22% from India, 15% from the U.K., 11% from Australia, 7% from Canada, 7% from Ireland and 4% from the Netherlands.

Information provided by the websites varied. Researchers organized the information across all websites into the following six categories:

• whether a test description was included (93%);
• statements about what the test can do (96%), including indicating ovarian reserve (96%), likelihood of conceiving (74%) and menopause timing (74%);
• statements about the usefulness of test results (48%), which enables women to adjust their reproductive timeline (41%) and determining whether egg freezing was a viable option (30%);
• blood collection method (96%), including going to a lab or collection center (59%) or through a finger prick at-home sample (52%);
• promotional tactics (93%), with the most common strategy emphasizing the ease and convenience of the test (89%) and using language promoting empowerment and control (26%); and
• statements about limitations of the test (70%), including that polycystic ovary syndrome can falsely increase anti-Müllerian hormone levels (48%), that the test cannot accurately predict chances of conception (33%) and is not reliable when taking oral contraceptive pills (26%).

“Websites across several countries offering direct-to-consumer anti-Müllerian hormone testing were easily found through simple internet searches and most contained false and misleading claims about the utility of the anti-Müllerian hormone test,” the researchers wrote. “This has the potential to mislead consumers to purchase an anti-Müllerian hormone test in the belief that it can predict fertility potential or age of menopause.”