MEN have been warned against relying on at-home prostate tests, as they could give inconsistent or misleading results.

The tests – which resemble Covid lateral flow strips – are used to check for conditions like an enlarged prostate or prostate cancer.

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They turn positive if a high level of a protein called PSA is detected in a drop of blood.

PSA tests are sometimes offered on the NHS but have long been the subject of criticism, with experts saying they’re not the most reliable predictors of prostate conditions.

Now, Prostate Cancer UK has raised concerns over self-testing rapid kits that can be bought online and completed at home, claiming to provide a result within minutes.

The charity flagged the tests’ “questionable accuracy”, warning that men taking them may be “falsely reassured” by results or wrongly lead to believe their have cancer or another prostate condition.

It follows an investigation conducted by BBC News, which analysed five rapid at-home prostate tests bought online.

Though the same blood sample was used for all five, one didn’t work, three came back all clear and one returned a false positive result.

This last test came up with a solid dark line, indicating a PSA level above 4.0 ug/l.

A private blood test taken the same day and sent to a laboratory showed a much lower reading of 0.27 ug/l.

Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, told the BBC: “These rapid tests appear to have questionable accuracy

“That’s a big problem because they can falsely reassure people who really do have elevated levels of PSA and should seek further testing, or they can cause undue worry among people who are absolutely fine.”

Online reviews of rapid PSA tests drive this point home, with one customer saying he was “really scared” after two rapid home tests indicated a high PSA level. A later NHS test showed his reading was normal.

In another one-star review, a woman wrote that her husband took two home tests for “peace of mind” and both were negative. An NHS blood test then showed high levels of PSA and he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) the UK’s medicines regulator, says in its guidance that over-the-counter PSA kits are “not a reliable indicator of prostate cancer” and must not “claim to detect cancer”.

Instead, at-home tests are often marketed as a way to “screen” for the disease or “assess prostate cancer risk”.

Meanwhile, the British In Vitro Diagnostics Association, which represents the blood testing industry, said “this particular type of [PSA] test may not give an accurate indication of prostate health when taken outside the NHS”.

It advised men concerned about their prostate health to see their GP.

While the NHS also makes use of PSA tests, these will be processed in a laboratory and give a more detailed picture than cheap home kit that either yield a positive or negative result.

GPs will also use other methods to check for prostate cancer, such as a physical examination of the prostate – a walnut shaped gland located between the penis and bladder that produces semen – MRI scans or a biopsy.

Google search data suggests interest in self-testing has risen sharply since the Olympic cylcing legend Sir Chris Hoy revealed he’d been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in October 2024.

But unlike breast and lung cancer, there’s no national screening programme for prostate cancer.

Men are instead advised to request a blood tests themselves from their GP once they reach 50 – but they can do so from the age of 45 if they’re at higher risk of prostate cancer.

Amy from Prostate Cancer UK told the BBC that the growth of home testing is “the symptom of a wider problem”.

“Too many men still don’t realise they can access tests through a GP and the guidelines for doctors are dangerously outdated,” she said.

Sir Chris has previously suggested men should get prostate checks in their forties, after being diagnosed with incurable cancer aged just 48.

His statement that it was a “no-brainer” to offer prostate cancer testing to men below the current standard age of 50 prompted Health Secretary Wes Streeting to announce the Government was looking into the matter.

The NHS is now set to review its guidance for prostate cancer testing.

In the UK, more than 50,000 mean are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year.

It was revealed in January that prostate cancer has overtaken breast cancer to become the most common type of tumour in the UK – as NHS figures showed that 55,033 men were diagnosed with it in 2023.