overdiagnosis

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English

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Etymology

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From over- +‎ diagnosis.

Noun

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overdiagnosis (countable and uncountable, plural overdiagnoses)

  1. (medicine) To diagnose something too frequently, or based on insufficient evidence, or without benefit to the patient.
    • 2007 January 2, H. Gilbert Welch, Lisa Schwartz, Steven Woloshin, “What’s Making Us Sick Is an Epidemic of Diagnoses”, in New York Times[1]:
      While failing to make a diagnosis can result in lawsuits, there are no corresponding penalties for overdiagnosis.
    • 2007, Stephen E. Brock, Shane R. Jimerson, Robin L. Hansen, Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Autism at School, page 29:
      Specifically, the broader diagnostic criteria typically results in the overdiagnosis of autism, particularly among those more severely disabled.
    • 2016 August, Wendy A. Rogers, Yishai Mintzker, “Getting clearer on overdiagnosis”, in Journal of evaluation in clinical practice[2]:
      Overdiagnosis refers to diagnosis that does not benefit patients because the diagnosed condition is not a harmful disease in those individuals.
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