Corporate medicine is hijacking feminist narratives around empowerment and women’s rights to market technologies, tests and treatments that aren’t backed by evidence.
A cancer diagnosis is serious, but immediately starting treatment sometimes isn’t the best course of action.
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People with low-risk prostate cancer are more likely to die from something else. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment can lead to life-changing complications.
About one in six pregnant women in Australia are now diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Rates have more than doubled since the thresholds for diagnosis were changed.
Many patients with less aggressive prostate cancer elect active surveillance instead of treatment.
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Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. Although watchful waiting is appropriate for low-risk cases, many are diagnosed at an advanced stage because of racial health disparities.
Our new study shows a widely used fertility treatment, known as ICSI, is no better than standard IVF for most people. Yet, it’s being routinely offered around the world.
How do you know if your child’s behaviour is normal or a sign of ADHD? The answer is not so clear cut. And now we have the evidence to show the consequences.
Elective surgeries have been halted as part of the health system’s response to coronavirus. But many are unnecessary and shouldn’t be rescheduled after the pandemic ends.
New research estimates 24% of cancers in men that were detected in 2012 were overdiagnosed, meaning they never would have caused harm if left untreated.
Doctors’ prescribing habits are influenced by drug reps and other industry marketing.
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Too often, pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers exert influence in how their products are tested in the research phase and recommended in the clinic.
The mother’s education level is also a factor.
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One in four Australians is overweight or obese by the time they reach adolescence, but it’s difficult to predict who is at risk. These three questions can help.
The decision about whether to operate can’t just be based on age, though age-related decline is certainly a consideration.
Philippe Leone
Rates of elective surgery are rising most among those aged over 85, due to advances in anaesthesia and techniques such as keyhole surgery. But it’s also much riskier.
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.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne