Prominent GP and former MP Kerryn Phelps has weighed into the doctor-pharmacist turf war, saying pharmacists shouldn’t prescribe because of their financial interests. But the evidence says otherwise.
3D mammograms may be useful in investigating abnormalities, but as a means of routine screening, they may do more harm than good.
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3D mammography is becoming more widely available, but is it superior to the traditional 2D technology for breast cancer detection? The answer isn’t clear-cut.
Not all disease is easy to spot.
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The threshold for diagnosing common conditions such as high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease and gestational diabetes have all lowered in recent years. But for whose benefit?
Gestational diabetes is diagnosed when women have elevated levels of sugar in their blood during pregnancy. But there’s no international threshold.
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Sarah and Donna are 26 weeks pregnant and have the same blood sugar levels. But while Donna is diagnosed with gestational diabetes, Sarah is spared from the label. It comes down to where she lives.
Being labelled with a serious illness can cause psychological distress.
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New tests may mean more people are diagnosed, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be helped by the label or the treatment. Here are five markers that overdiagnosis may be occuring.
Many people associate the word cancer with major illness or death.
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Previously, a person would be diagnosed with high blood pressure if their systolic reading was 140mmHg. But it’s recommended this threshold be lowered to 130mmHg, which will do more harm than good.
Many men who have prostate cancer will die with it, rather than of it.
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Since the 1980s, PSA tests have been used for the diagnosis and follow-up of prostate cancer. However, its use as a screening test for prostate cancer remains controversial.
Back pain affects one-quarter of Australians.
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Rates of spinal fusion surgery for back pain are on the rise. This is despite little evidence that it’s an effective procedure and studies showing many will have revision surgery within ten years.
Dr. Karen Lindfors, a professor of radiology and chief of breast imaging at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, examines the mammogram of a patient.
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
October is breast cancer awareness month. Women should know there is no reliable evidence that routine mammograms reduce death from breast cancer, and there’s good evidence that they cause harm.
Some conditions should be classified as normal in some people and don’t need treatment.
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Two major studies cast doubt on the value of screening for prostate cancer, yet it continues regardless.
Medical panels are constantly lowering thresholds across many diseases, which results in more and more healthy people being diagnosed as sick.
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More of us are labelled as sick with the constantly changing diagnostic cut-offs for diseases. Now an international expert panel has drafted a list of things to consider before setting new thresholds.
Doctors know most scans for low back pain are useless, but they have trouble convincing patients.
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Reducing health-care waste relating to unnecessary tests has been a major priority for researchers, governments and health services for decades. But how do we change the behaviour of doctors?
Arguments that immature children are incorrectly diagnosed with ADHD are simplistic.
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Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne