Everly Health: Leading with Science

As we close out 2022, I’m excited to share highlights of the research done by our Everly Health team as we continue to leverage best-in-class science that helps move care into the home and puts people in control of their health journeys. These data demonstrate the reliability and accuracy of at-home collection methods, and test-takers should feel confident in this convenient, affordable, and accessible care.

Here are a few research highlights from the year:

Bringing STD testing into the home

Early in the year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that infection rates hit an all-time high and continued nearly unabated during the pandemic, constituting a new public health crisis. 

In among one of the largest, real-world consumer data analyses of mail-in self-collected samples (SCS) for sexually transmitted infections (STI), we examined the prevalence and test performance of Hepatitis C (HCV), HIV, syphilis, and trichomoniasis and follow-up telemedicine consultation utilization from over 44,000 test events among consumer-initiated test takers.  

Our study found very high negative predictive values (NPV), the probability that individuals with a negative test result truly don’t have the disease, for all three mail-in SCS tests ranging from 98.6% to 100%, as confirmed with third-party mail-in SCS or in-person standard of care. A high NPV is highly desirable in serious, largely asymptomatic, or contagious conditions or if treatment for a condition is advisable early in its course. 

This important finding adds to the growing evidence for moving more care pathways into the home and reinforces the effectiveness and accessibility of at-home sample collection for STI testing that may further reduce barriers to testing.

Closing diabetes care gaps

In an analysis of consumer-initiated testing during the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed an increasing proportion of test-takers with pre-diabetes or diabetes, highlighting a greater need and interest in monitoring their conditions using at-home, mail-in SCS technologies. At-home testing for HbA1c increased 68% when comparing March - December 2019 to March - December 2020. These data support the utility of consumer-initiated, self-collected samples for routine health monitoring, particularly among people with elevated HbA1c.

The interest and increasing uptake of at-home testing options for metabolic conditions, like pre-diabetes and diabetes, provide a convenient option to help drive healthcare gap closures as well as the impact on better glucose control and outcomes for those living with these diseases. 

One of the largest COVID-19 studies on at-home testing

Presented at the CDC’s 11th International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases (ICEID), we presented this study, one of the first and largest real-world data studies of its kind. The study reports that people without symptoms made up nearly 50% of all positive cases among those performing at-home sample collection for PCR testing for COVID-19.  Moreover, these people more frequently reported having no known exposure to the virus prior to testing positive than people with symptoms. The study speaks to the transmissibility and clearly illustrates how at-home sample collection is an effective strategy for testing and public health management of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19.

As we look ahead to 2023, I’m thankful to all the teams who contributed to this work and am excited to see how we can continue to innovate and drive healthcare from the clinic to the home in our relentless mission to transform lives with modern, diagnostics-driven care.