Reforming disease definitions: a new primary care led, people-centred approach

Expanding disease definitions are causing more and more previously healthy people to be labelled
as diseased, contributing to the problem of overdiagnosis and related overtreatment. Often the
specialist guideline panels which expand definitions have close tis to industry and do not
investigate the harms of defining more people as sick. Responding to growing calls to address
these problems, an international group of leading researchers and clinicians is proposing a new way
to set diagnostic thresholds and mark the boundaries of condition definitions, to try to tackle a key
driver of overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

Read more at: https://ebm.bmj.com/content/ebmed/early/2019/04/11/bmjebm-2018-111148.full.pdf

Great topic. This would have a huge impact on diagnostic and care cascade gaps, probably highlighting differences between HICs and LMICs that are probably to some extent masked when so many relatively healthy people are included in the disease state…

One of the authors of this article is a colleague who is keen to engage with LMIC researchers on prevention of over diagnosis. The article comes out of an annual Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference (https://www.preventingoverdiagnosis.net/) - if anyone is interested please email julian.treadwell[at]phc.ox.ac.uk

Thanks!