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Australia is responding to the complex challenge of overdiagnosis

Eugen Molodysky
Med J Aust 2019; 210 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/mja2.50203
Published online: 17 June 2019

To the Editor: Moynihan and colleagues1 make a good case for Australia responding to the complex challenge of reducing the overdiagnosis of clinical disease. However, this challenge should not lead to confusion with the early diagnosis of and the early intervention in preclinical disease, which are the mainstay of secondary prevention. While reducing diagnosis creep and expanding disease definitions are predominantly the realm of the specialist disciplines, primary care is uniquely placed to embrace preclinical disease diagnosis, increasing early detection and intervention, while specialists endorse reducing overdiagnosis, both collaborating in lowering long term costs to the health system.


  • University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW


Correspondence: molodysky@ozemail.com.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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