Everyday millions of people turn to the Internet for health information and treatment advice [1, 2]. For instance, in Australia, around 80% of people search the Internet for health information, and nearly 40% seek guidance online for self-treatment [3, 4]
In the US, almost two-thirds of adults search the Web for health information and roughly one-third utilize it for self-diagnosis , trying to discover by themselves the underlying causes of their health symptoms [5]
Medical self-diagnostic systems are increasingly becoming an integral part of digital health, with more than 15 million users per month [6] that are likely to keep growing. A recent UK-based study found that more than 70% of individuals between the ages of 18 and 39 years would use a self-diagnostic tool [7]
Nevertheless, the utility and promise of self-diagnostic systems cannot be materialized if they do not prove to be accurate. As part of Avey’s mission, we have been researching, designing, developing, and testing a self-diagnostic algorithm to empower patients for more than 4 years now.