A study on the accuracy of online symptom checkers was carried out. The research from Harvard Medical School has found that the programs were able to identify the real problem in the first attempt only around one-third of the time.

Study's lead researcher Ateev Mehrotra said their main aim was to know whether or not people have been receiving correct advice if they are using this measure. Ateev shared that the checkers are made by medical schools, hospitals, insurance companies and government agencies.

People using symptom checkers have to add their symptoms with the help of multiple choice or manual methods. After entering the symptoms, a list comes of potential health problems that could have led to those symptoms.

It also provides a recommendation as whether or not person should seek immediately visit doctor or he can wait for some more days or stay at home and take rest. In the study, the researchers created a list of symptoms based on 45 medical scenarios. These symptoms were added into 23 commonly used checkers in America, the United Kingdom and Poland.

The researchers said that the correct diagnosis in the first time was only one-third of the time. "It's not nearly as important for a patient with fever, headache, stiff neck and confusion to know whether they have meningitis or encephalitis as it is for them to know that they should get to an ER quickly", affirmed Mehrotra.