You don't know if it's a false positive or not until you do further interventions. Realizing it's unnecessary is only evident in hindsight.
E.g. CT scan shows an incidental, tiny lung nodule. You do a biopsy. Unfortunately, during the process of getting a biopsy, you develop a pneumothorax (an uncommon but well-known complication of a lung biopsy) and need a chest tube, hospitalization, etc. You get discharged and you're fine, but man, that wasn't fun. Biopsy comes back negative for cancer. Nodule goes away on its own with time.
Edit: that being said, I'm excited about OTC CGMs! But the "data" we have in medicine is not as accurate as other fields and always subject to false positives/negatives.
Agreed. Thanks for the perspective. Never considered downsides of such interventions (as I have been mostly a lab rat for doctors but never experienced things like that, but it's understandable).
the gap between cgm and a biopsy from a CT scan is vast. CGM is not enough to trigger any such intervention. Unnecessary interventions are absolutely a concern. A CGM is about as controversial as someone taking their own heart rate to help them calm down from panic attacks. Minimally invasive and nobody would base a dramatic intervention on this data alone.
Sure. As I stated in my original comment, I'm excited about CGMs being widely available. The example in my comment was very specifically answering "why do doctors perform unnecessary interventions?".
Doctors make mistakes. Procedures carry inherent risks, such as infection, allergies, blood clots, etc. Even driving to the doctor to discuss your blood glucose carries a risk of car accident. All of these are low probability events, but non-zero.
E.g. CT scan shows an incidental, tiny lung nodule. You do a biopsy. Unfortunately, during the process of getting a biopsy, you develop a pneumothorax (an uncommon but well-known complication of a lung biopsy) and need a chest tube, hospitalization, etc. You get discharged and you're fine, but man, that wasn't fun. Biopsy comes back negative for cancer. Nodule goes away on its own with time.
Edit: that being said, I'm excited about OTC CGMs! But the "data" we have in medicine is not as accurate as other fields and always subject to false positives/negatives.