Overdiagnosis and too much medicine in a world of crises

Many healthcare systems are facing crises of excess demand, increased prevalence of chronic disease, spiralling costs, and workforce challenges which threaten their functioning.12 Recent evidence suggests that part of the increase in prevalence of “disease” is due to overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and overall low value care.3 It has been estimated that 30% of medical care is of low value or wastes resources, and 10% is harmful.4 The health sector is estimated to account for more than 5% of greenhouse gas emissions in industrialised countries—another way in which low value care threatens health.5There is a need for more capacity in healthcare, more investment in healthcare, and more staffing in some regions, and for specialties to improve health, wellbeing, and inequality. However, the exponential expansion of medical territory in the last half century has become unsustainable, leading to soaring healthcare costs, an unreasonable treatment burden for patients, burnout among healthcare staff, and substantial…
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