Table 3.

Terms related to overdiagnosis

Term	Definition	Comments
Overdiagnosis	The diagnosis of a condition that would not cause clinical harm during the patient’s lifetime6	Can result from appropriate or unnecessary testing
Overuse (or overutilization)	The provision of health services that are more likely to harm than to benefit the patient82	A fundamental quality problem
Overtreatment	A therapeutic intervention for which potential harm outweighs potential benefit83; can refer to excessive intensity of a treatment that may otherwise be appropriate84	Can be a subcategory of overuse or represent overly aggressive treatment that may not meet the definition of overuse
Overmedicalization	Reinterpretation of human experiences as medical problems, without net clinical benefit4	A social phenomenon that can lead to or result from overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and overuse
Misdiagnosis	An incorrect diagnosis of an illness or problem85	A type of medical error
Misuse	The provision of an appropriate service where a preventable complication interferes with patient benefit82	A fundamental quality problem related to patient safety
Disease mongering	Encouragement of overmedicalization by outside forces to maximize profits	A strategy pursued by the drugs industry to create or broaden drug markets
Low value care	The provision of health services that are wasteful or provide little or no benefit to patients86 87	Implies cost inefficiency; term often used vaguely