GET A CHOLESTEROL TEST – ON AN APP

THE world’s first smartphonebased cholesterol blood test has been approved in the UK, using artificial intelligence to deliver results in just six minutes.

The new technology – backed by regulators last week – allows individuals to test themselves and get the results through an app – all without leaving your home. It involves pricking the finger with a lancet needle, taking tiny amount of blood with a pipette, and placing a drop of blood on a lateral flow test (LFT) – similar to those used by millions throughout Covid. The user leaves the LFT for six minutes and takes a picture of it on the smartphone.

The app’s software digitises the result and connects with the company’s internet servers, delivering a result within seconds, and cutting out laboratory analysis.

The announcement follows new findings that more than 70 per cent of adults over 55 years old have never tested their cholesterol, despite nearly 80 per cent knowing it can lead to heart disease.