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Creeping sickness: Our epidemic of diagnosis

By Clint Witchalls

26 January 2011

In Overdiagnosed, H. Gilbert Welch, Lisa Schwartz and Steven Woloshin argue that as definitions of diseases broaden, so do the risks to healthy people

HYPOCHONDRIACS have never had it so good – or should I say, so bad? Medical diagnostics have advanced to the stage where if you look for a disease you will find it.

Consider the advances in imaging technology that have been made in the last few decades. Today, we have PET, MRI, CAT and ultrasound scanners – precision imaging machines that can reveal far more than old-fashioned X-rays. No polyp, cyst or ominous shadow evades their scrutiny.

With…

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