In 2014, the North American Menopause Society and the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health recommended using the term genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) to cover a range of genital and urinary symptoms that might be experienced during and after menopause. The [...]
This review found robust evidence to inform discussion of possible recalibration of diagnostic thresholds, or use of alternative labels, for low-risk prostate cancer. RCTs and cohort studies demonstrate that active surveillance is a safe option for very low-risk and low-risk prostate cancers, with extremely low [...]
The definition of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) varies considerably depending on the region where a woman lives, and considerable controversy remains on the best approach to diagnosis. A 2021 trial showed no benefit for women or infants screened with the International Association of the Diabetes [...]
The Royal College of General Practitioner's response to the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine paper on definitions of disease (April 2019 - see publications page)
Did you know the definition of high blood pressure (hypertension) in the United States was recently greatly expanded? Overnight, tens of millions of people were reclassified, leaving one in every two adults with a diagnosis of hypertension. The move has been welcomed by some but [...]
Expanding disease definitions are causing more and more previously healthy people to be labelled as diseased, contributing to the problem of overdiagnosis and related overtreatment. Often the specialist guideline panels which expand definitions have close tis to industry and do not investigate the harms of [...]
The recent recommendations from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) to lower the thresholds for defining hypertension and for treating higher-risk patients have been controversial...
'If you were to create a list of health problems that can be particularly tough on a woman’s body and soul, polycystic ovary syndrome would surely loom large...'
While some Australian experts argue that changing definitions have caused more women to be unnecessarily given the PCOS label, others caution against delaying diagnosis...
The changed definition of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) harms women and brings no clear benefit, say Australian scientists in today’s British Medical Journal...
