verb
- to diagnose a disease or condition in a patient more frequently or in more cases than is medically justified or accurate
Usage: transitive verb; medical/healthcare context
Examples
- Doctors may overdiagnose attention deficit disorder in children who are simply active.
- The new screening test tends to overdiagnose early-stage cancer, leading to unnecessary treatments.
- Overdiagnosis of depression has increased as awareness of mental health has grown.
- Some critics argue that the medical industry overdiagnoses conditions to increase treatment revenue.
- Improved diagnostic tools can help prevent physicians from overdiagnosing rare diseases.
- The study showed that anxiety disorders are frequently overdiagnosed in primary care settings.