Defining, Estimating, and Communicating Overdiagnosis in Cancer Screening
Authors: Wendy A. Rogers, Yishai Mintzker
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2018)

Letters20 November 2018Defining, Estimating, and Communicating Overdiagnosis in Cancer ScreeningWendy A. Rogers, BM BS, PhD, BAHons and Yishai Mintzker, MDWendy A. Rogers, BM BS, PhD, BAHonsMacquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (W.A.R.)Search for more papers by this author and Yishai Mintzker, MDFaculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Bar Ilan University, Safed, Israel (Y.M.)Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L18-0513 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:Davies and colleagues (1) provide a comprehensive list of definitions and concepts related to cancer overdiagnosis, including the terms maldetection and misclassification. To our knowledge, these 2 terms were first used in our 2016 article (2) and associated response (3) and were subsequently cited by Jenniskens and associates (4). We defined misclassification overdiagnosis as overdiagnosis due to lowering diagnostic thresholds of physiologic variables that occur on a spectrum. As such, many persons are diagnosed with a disease despite the absence of current or future symptoms. Our example was chronic kidney disease. This term also captures the phenomenon ...References1. Davies L, Petitti DB, Martin L, Woo M, Lin JS. Defining, estimating, and communicating overdiagnosis in cancer screening. Ann Intern Med. 2018;169:36-43. [PMID: 29946705]. doi:10.7326/M18-0694 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Rogers WA, Mintzker Y. Getting clearer on overdiagnosis. J Eval Clin Pract. 2016;22:580-7. [PMID: 27149914] doi:10.1111/jep.12556 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Rogers WA, Mintzker Y. Response to Bjorn Hofmann: clarifying overdiagnosis without losing conceptual complexity. J Eval Clin Pract. 2017;23:1120-1. [PMID: 27981722] doi:10.1111/jep.12682 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Jenniskens K, de Groot JAH, Reitsma JB, Moons KGM, Hooft L, Naaktgeboren CA. Overdiagnosis across medical disciplines: a scoping review. BMJ Open. 2017;7:e018448. [PMID: 29284720] doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018448 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Rogers WA, Walker MJ. Précising definitions as a way to combat overdiagnosis. J Eval Clin Pract. 2018;24:1019-25. [PMID: 29603505] doi:10.1111/jep.12909 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (W.A.R.)Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Bar Ilan University, Safed, Israel (Y.M.)Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L18-0513. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoDefining, Estimating, and Communicating Overdiagnosis in Cancer Screening Louise Davies , Diana B. Petitti , Lynn Martin , Meghan Woo , and Jennifer S. Lin Defining, Estimating, and Communicating Overdiagnosis in Cancer Screening Louise Davies , Diana B. Petitti , Meghan Woo , and Jennifer S. Lin Metrics 20 November 2018Volume 169, Issue 10Page: 738-739KeywordsCancer screeningChronic kidney diseaseDisclosureForecastingThyroidThyroid carcinoma ePublished: 20 November 2018 Issue Published: 20 November 2018 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2018 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...