Overdiagnosis: How Our Compulsion for Diagnosis May Be Harming Children

@article{Coon2014OverdiagnosisHO,
  title={Overdiagnosis: How Our Compulsion for Diagnosis May Be Harming Children},
  author={Eric R. Coon and Ricardo A. Quinonez and Virginia A. Moyer and Alan R. Schroeder},
  journal={Pediatrics},
  year={2014},
  volume={134},
  pages={1013 - 1023}
}
Overdiagnosis occurs when a true abnormality is discovered, but detection of that abnormality does not benefit the patient. It should be distinguished from misdiagnosis, in which the diagnosis is inaccurate, and it is not synonymous with overtreatment or overuse, in which excess medication or procedures are provided to patients for both correct and incorrect diagnoses. Overdiagnosis for adult conditions has gained a great deal of recognition over the last few years, led by realizations that… Expand
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123 Citations
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123 Citations

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Citation Type

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TLDR
It is argued that ‘disease’ should be considered a vague concept with a non-classical structure and defined as dysfunction that has a significant risk of causing severe harm to the patient, and develops a précising definition of disease. Expand
Update on Pediatric Overuse
TLDR
Using a structured PubMed search and manual tables of contents review, important articles on pediatric overuse published in 2015 were identified and were evaluated according to the quality of the methods, the magnitude of clinical effect, and the number of patients potentially affected. Expand
Occult Bacteremia: Should We Look for the Needle in the Haystack?
TLDR
OB is uncommon in the PCV-vaccinated population and the serotypes involved have changed, specifically by Streptococcus pneumoniae, in the years 2008-2013 and specifically those considered occult. Expand
Evidence for overuse of medical services around the world
TLDR
Overuse of unneeded services can harm patients physically and psychologically, and can harm health systems by wasting resources and deflecting investments in both public health and social spending, which is known to contribute to health. Expand
2016 Update on Medical Overuse: A Systematic Review.
TLDR
The number of articles on overuse of medical care nearly doubled from 2014 to 2015, and the top 10 articles selected were deemed most relevant based on their originality, methodologic quality, and number of patients potentially affected. Expand
Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping review
TLDR
This scoping review aims to synthesise published evidence on the topic in order to investigate whether existing literature is consistent with the occurrence of overdiagnosis and/or overtreatment of ADHD in children and adolescents. Expand
2017 Update on Medical Overuse: A Systematic Review
TLDR
2 methods for reducing overuse are highlighted: clinician audit and feedback with peer comparison for antibiotic use and a practical and sensible shared decision-making tool for low-risk chest pain (reduction in emergency department workup from 52% to 37%). Expand
Why clinicians overtest: development of a thematic framework
TLDR
A thematic framework of factors that influence clinicians to request non-recommended and unnecessary tests is established and the development of a scale to assess clinician knowledge, attitudes and practices is planned to allow evaluation of clinician-targeted interventions to reduce overtesting. Expand
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