Structured Summary
Abstract
The labeling of a person with a disease or abnormal condition that would not have caused the person harm if left undiscovered, creating new diagnoses by medicalizing ordinary life experiences, or expanding existing diagnoses by lowering thresholds or widening criteria without evidence of improved outcomes. Individuals derive no clinical benefit from overdiagnosis although they may experience physical, psychological or financial harm.
MeSH Record
Classification
Broader headings
Related Concepts
Knowledge Graph
Drag nodes to rearrange; hover to trace links; click a node to open its page.
MeSH Record
See Also
MeSH Record
Synonyms
13 entry terms
- Over-Diagnosis
- Pseudodisease, Over-Diagnosed
- Pseudodisease, Overdiagnosed
- Over Diagnosis
- Over-Diagnosed Pseudodisease
- Over-Diagnosed Pseudodiseases
- Over-Diagnoses
- Overdiagnosed Pseudodisease
- Overdiagnosed Pseudodiseases
- Overdiagnoses
- Pseudodisease, Over Diagnosed
- Pseudodiseases, Over-Diagnosed
- Pseudodiseases, Overdiagnosed
MeSH Record
Aspects Covered
5 allowable subheadings
Indexed with the subheadings economics, legislation & jurisprudence, prevention & control, statistics & numerical data, trends.
MeSH Record
History Note
2022(2016)
MeSH Hierarchy
Tree Numbers
AMA Style
References
- National Library of Medicine. Overdiagnosis. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D000088522. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D000088522
- Overdiagnosis. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdiagnosis
- Overdiagnosis. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q956131