RT Book, Section A1 Armstrong, Katrina A. A1 Martin, Gary J. A2 Jameson, J. Larry A2 Fauci, Anthony S. A2 Kasper, Dennis L. A2 Hauser, Stephen L. A2 Longo, Dan L. A2 Loscalzo, Joseph SR Print(0) ID 1155940831 T1 Screening and Prevention of Disease T2 Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 20e YR 2018 FD 2018 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259644016 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1155940831 RD 2024/10/08 AB A primary goal of health care is to prevent disease or detect it early enough that intervention will be more effective. Tremendous progress has been made toward this goal over the last 50 years. Screening tests are available for many common diseases and encompass biochemical (e.g., cholesterol, glucose), physiologic (e.g., blood pressure, growth curves), radiologic (e.g., mammogram, bone densitometry), and cytologic (e.g., Pap smear) approaches. Effective preventive interventions have resulted in dramatic declines in mortality from many diseases, particularly infections. Preventive interventions include counseling about risk behaviors, vaccinations, medications, and, in some relatively uncommon settings, surgery. Preventive services (including screening tests, preventive interventions, and counseling) are different than other medical interventions because they are proactively administered to healthy individuals instead of in response to a symptom, sign, or diagnosis. Thus, the decision to recommend a screening test or preventive intervention requires a particularly high bar of evidence that testing and intervention are both practical and effective.