A ninefold increase is the result of huge advances in our understanding – and brings the hope of fulfilling lives to many more peopleGina Rippon is an emeritus professor of cognitive neuroimaging and author of The Lost Girls of AutismSoaring rates of diagnoses in various illnesses such as cancer and diabetes have stimulated a debate about whether medicine has an “overdiagnosis” problem. The claim is that individuals may be prematurely diagnosed with conditions that, although meeting criteria for a disease, will never cause symptoms or death during a patient’s lifetime.Discussions of this problem in the world of physical medicine have mainly been described as compassionate, arising from concerns that many so-called diagnoses might be unnecessary (does being pre-diabetic really mean you are ill?) or even harmful (the worried well being driven to seek needless and possibly damaging surgical interventions). Now that there are ever-more sensitive screening tests, and access to predictive genetic information, are doctors handing out too many unnecessary sicknotes?Prof Gina Rippon is emeritus professor of cognitive neuroimaging at the Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment, Aston University, and the author of The Lost Girls of Autism and The Gendered Brain Continue reading...