The Staggering Cost of Lyme Disease Misdiagnosis

When a tick-borne illness is misdiagnosed, the disease-causing infection has more time to spread, which can lead to more severe or chronic health issues. That can lead to months and even years of escalating costs for patients and their families due to ongoing doctor visits, diagnostic tests, ineffective medications, and other medical expenses.

Lyme disease misdiagnosis or other tick-borne disease misdiagnosis can lead to significant personal and economic costs. In a recent survey conducted by IGeneX Laboratory, a leading testing lab in California, researchers sought to determine how long it took for patients to obtain a proper diagnosis, how many doctors they had visited, and how much financial impact they had ultimately incurred.

According to the survey:

• 45% of patients needed more than three years to obtain the proper diagnosis
• 65% of patients were forced to quit a job or cut back on their hours due to their symptoms
• 24% of patients saw more than ten doctors before receiving a proper diagnosis
• 86% of patients suffer from long-term side effects from not having been diagnosed sooner

One of the most shocking statistics from the survey was that nearly 36 percent of patients with a tick-borne disease spent more than $10,000 on tests, treatments, appointments, and other costs associated with their disease.

Most experts agree that the best patient outcomes are achieved when Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases are diagnosed and treated as early as possible. When there is tick-borne disease misdiagnosis, the disease-causing infection has more time to spread, which can lead to more severe or chronic health issues. That can lead to months and even years of escalating costs for patients and their families due to ongoing doctor visits, diagnostic tests, ineffective medications, and other medical expenses.

Tick-borne diseases are on the rise and prevention should be on everyone’s mind, particularly during the spring, summer, and early fall when ticks are most active. Prevention and early detection are part of the safety protocol extended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers hope that the survey will help educate the public on the risks associated with delaying testing or relying on old testing techniques. Many patients are missed because much of the testing recommended by general practitioners is based on technology from 30 years ago. Science has progressed, and we can now give patients a much more accurate diagnosis than was available years ago. Addressing these issues requires better awareness, early detection, and appropriate treatment protocols for Lyme disease to reduce the overall impact of misdiagnosis.

Early detection of any tick-borne disease, whether it's Lyme disease, Bartonella, Babesia, or Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever, is paramount. This will allow treatment to begin before the disease can become chronic. Advances in testing, including sophisticated at-home tests such as those from AcuDart, give patients more opportunity to obtain an early and accurate diagnosis.