How much preventive health screening should I be getting?

‘The direct-to-consumer testing industry is increasingly promoting tests that promise reassurance but often deliver ambiguous findings.’ Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when the tech entrepreneur and longevity influencer Bryan Johnson posted about his girlfriend’s “vaginal microbiome report” in April. (He said it was in the “top 1% of vaginas”.) While the vaginal microbiome is genuinely interesting, most clinicians don’t routinely recommend this test to patients.

As medical technology has become more powerful – and more marketable – the line between helpful screening and unnecessary testing has blurred.