Screening (medicine)

Brief medical evaluation to detect unnoticed health problems

In medicine, screening is a strategy used to test for as-yet-unrecognised conditions or risk markers in individuals or populations without symptoms or signs of the disease being screened. Screening interventions are designed to identify conditions which could at some future point turn into disease, thus enabling earlier intervention and management in the hope to reduce mortality and suffering from a disease. Although screening may lead to an earlier diagnosis, not all screening tests have been shown to benefit the person being screened- overdiagnosis, misdiagnosis, and creating a false sense of security are some potential adverse effects of screening.

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