Media Coverage

About half of young children who were tested for lead had detectable levels of the toxic metal in their blood, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Pediatrics on Monday. The new study is the first to examine low levels of lead in children’s blood, enabled by more sensitive technology, said Harvey Kaufman, a co-author of the study. Kaufman is also senior medical director at Quest Diagnostics Inc., which performed the testing for the study.

Last week, Quest Diagnostic DGX issued its periodical media statement on the company’s COVID-19 testing-related business performance. The company noted a dramatic increase in testing demand through July to September, as the United States is seeing a surge in the Delta variant-led cases.

Illustrating the extent of the boom, Quest Diagnostics on Thursday raised its full-year revenue outlook by hundreds of millions of dollars. The Secaucus, N.J.–based company cited "stronger than anticipated" demand for its molecular Covid tests since it released its second quarter financial results and full-year guidance on July 22.

A new study suggests that U.S. cancer diagnoses have declined because of pandemic-related upheaval. Researchers from Quest Diagnostics used records of newly diagnosed cancer patients who received testing at Quest. In the year before the pandemic hit, the monthly average of new diagnoses was 32,000. In the most recent period, November 2020 to March 2021, the monthly average was about 26,000 — suggesting thousands of people skipped screening tests or checkups in the last year.

New cancer diagnoses in the U.S. remained below the pre-pandemic period over the winter despite evidence cases were missed earlier in 2020, according to an analysis of data from Quest Diagnostics.

Quest Diagnostics, the nation’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, announced it has acquired select assets of Nationwide Laboratory Services (NLS), an independent clinical diagnostics laboratory headquartered in Boca Raton, FL with over 25 years of patient-centric service throughout the country.

The average positive rate for SARS-CoV-2, including the Delta variant, has steadily increased over the past six weeks, says a spokesperson at Quest Diagnostics. This is what fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people need to know about the dominant Delta variant.

The COVID-19 pandemic might have put a damper on testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)—in particular, chlamydia and gonorrhea—but not on the rate of infections, found an analysis published in May. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, concluded that stay-at-home orders early in the pandemic likely led to a 40% decrease in testing—though not necessarily in STI prevalence. “We’ve been losing the battle [against STIs] for six years, and COVID made it harder,” said Harvey W. Kaufman, M.D., senior medical director for Quest Diagnostics and an author of the study.

On this week’s Tech Nation, Moira speaks with DR. HARVEY KAUFMAN, the Senior Medical Director of Quest Diagnostics, about how the use or delay of medical tests reveals about the health status of the US.

With the pandemic pressuring testing demand, lab stewardship programs can help with decision making and actionable insights to make the right testing decisions for patients, leading to better quality outcomes. By Lee Hilborne, MD, MPH.