overdiagnose

English

Etymology

From over- +‎ diagnose.

Verb

overdiagnose (third-person singular simple present overdiagnoses, present participle overdiagnosing, simple past and past participle overdiagnosed)

1. (medicine) To diagnose something more often than it actually occurs.

   Antonym: underdiagnose

   • 2009 January 11, Jeanne Dorin Mcdowell, “The Four (at Least) Faces of Tara”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Dissociative identity disorder is a contentious diagnosis: some professionals say the disorder is overdiagnosed; others say it doesn't even exist.

2. (medicine) To diagnose as a clinical case what is truly a subclinical case.