Medicalisation and Overdiagnosis: What Society Does to Medicine

Document Type : Perspective

Authors

Celsus Academy for Sustainable Healthcare, and Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Abstract

The concept of overdiagnosis is a dominant topic in medical literature and discussions. In research that targets overdiagnosis, medicalisation is often presented as the societal and individual burden of unnecessary medical expansion. In this way, the focus lies on the influence of medicine on society, neglecting the possible influence of society on medicine. In this perspective, we aim to provide a novel insight into the influence of society and the societal context on medicine, in particularly with regard to medicalisation and overdiagnosis.

Highlights

Commentaries Published on this Paper

  • Mistaking the Map for the Territory: What Society Does With Medicine; Comment on “Medicalisation and Overdiagnosis: What Society Does to Medicine”Authors' Response to the Commentaries

          Abstract | PDF

  • On the Social Construction of Overdiagnosis; Comment on “Medicalisation and Overdiagnosis: What Society Does to Medicine”

          Abstract | PDF

  • Overdiagnosis: An Important Issue That Demands Rigour and Precision; Comment on “Medicalisation and Overdiagnosis: What Society Does to Medicine”

          Abstract | PDF

 

Authors' Response to the Commentaries

  • Define and Conquer: How Semantics Foster Progress; A Response to Recent Commentaries

          Abstract | PDF

Keywords

Main Subjects

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History

  • Receive Date: 02 May 2016
  • Revise Date: 22 August 2016
  • Accept Date: 23 August 2016
  • First Publish Date: 01 November 2016

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