. 2018 Sep;64(9):654-659.

Overdiagnosis: causes and consequences in primary health care

Harminder Singh¹, James A Dickinson², Guylène Thériault³, Roland Grad⁴, Stéphane Groulx⁵, Brenda J Wilson⁶, Olga Szafran⁷, Neil R Bell⁸

Affiliations

¹ Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and in the Department of Hematology and Oncology for CancerCare Manitoba. harminder.singh@umanitoba.ca.
² Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary in Alberta.
³ Associate Vice Dean of Distributed Medical Education and Academic Lead for the Physicianship Component at Outaouais Medical Campus at McGill University in Montreal, Que.
⁴ Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University and Senior Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute in Montreal.
⁵ Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke and Associate Researcher at the Charles-LeMoyne Hospital Research Centre in Sherbrooke, Que.
⁶ Associate Dean and Professor in the Division of Community Health and Humanities at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St John's.
⁷ Associate Director of Research, in the Department of Family Medicine, at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
⁸ Professor, in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

PMID: 30209095
PMCID: PMC6135119

Overdiagnosis: causes and consequences in primary health care

Harminder Singh et al. Can Fam Physician. 2018 Sep.

. 2018 Sep;64(9):654-659.

Authors

Harminder Singh¹, James A Dickinson², Guylène Thériault³, Roland Grad⁴, Stéphane Groulx⁵, Brenda J Wilson⁶, Olga Szafran⁷, Neil R Bell⁸

Affiliations

¹ Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and in the Department of Hematology and Oncology for CancerCare Manitoba. harminder.singh@umanitoba.ca.
² Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary in Alberta.
³ Associate Vice Dean of Distributed Medical Education and Academic Lead for the Physicianship Component at Outaouais Medical Campus at McGill University in Montreal, Que.
⁴ Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University and Senior Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute in Montreal.
⁵ Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke and Associate Researcher at the Charles-LeMoyne Hospital Research Centre in Sherbrooke, Que.
⁶ Associate Dean and Professor in the Division of Community Health and Humanities at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St John's.
⁷ Associate Director of Research, in the Department of Family Medicine, at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
⁸ Professor, in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

PMID: 30209095
PMCID: PMC6135119

No abstract available

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Figures

**Figure 1.**
**Example of overdiagnosis** Reproduced from Hersch et al with permission.

**Figure 2.**
**Variable progression of disease** Reproduced from Welch and Black with permission.

**Figure 3.**
**Age-standardized thyroid cancer incidence and mortality rates in Canada from 1970 to 2012, depicting increasing incidence from the 1990s with no concomitant change in mortality** Adapted from Topstad and Dickinson with permission.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

1. Feinleib M, Zelen M. Some pitfalls in the evaluation of screening programs. Arch Environ Health. 1969;19(3):412–5. - PubMed
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1. Ghanouni A, Meisel SF, Renzi C, Wardle J, Waller J. Survey of public definitions of the term ‘overdiagnosis’ in the UK. BMJ Open. 2016;6(4):e010723. - PMC - PubMed
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Overdiagnosis: causes and consequences in primary health care

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