Why every screening test is a gamble

Originally published on Common Sense Family Doctor on January 6, 2015.

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I'm in Las Vegas for the first time in 15 years to attend the International Consumer Electronics Show, and earlier today participated in a panel of "early-adopter" family physicians discussing our perspectives on consumer (patient) health technology such as apps and wearable health data collection devices. I'm staying at one of Vegas's many combination hotel and casinos, with a layout designed to funnel guests and other visitors through the gaming floor to get practically anywhere. While walking past a row of pulsating slot machines in the lobby this morning, I remembered the title of a terrific New York Times editorial I read a few years ago, "You Have to Gamble On Your Health."