Screening is essential, especially when prevention is the main aim of care. Usually, to enable primary prevention, the system must determine risk factors and differentiate between people who may have an illness and those who have significantly lower chances of having it. Screening differs from diagnosis in that it aims to determine the presence of abnormalities associated with illnesses to estimate the chances of the person having a condition, and diagnosis aims to detect the presence of the illness with certainty (Sands, J et al., 2021). While screening is commonly touted as a preventive measure, knowing the chances of a disease does not stop it from happening. Understanding the benefits and limitations of screening is important to determine when to recommend screening and when not to.
The most important benefit of screening is early detection. Detecting the presence of illnesses enables early management. Many chronic illnesses have better prognoses when they are detected earlier. For instance, cancer management is easier when detected in the initial stages (Jiang et al., 2021). For instance, stage one and two cancers are easier to manage than advanced ones. For terminal cases, patients usually have almost no chance of survival. Screening enables detection before the illnesses cause irreversible damage to allow people to live longer. Early detection also helps for conditions like diabetes and vascular conditions.
Screening also helps identify risk factors and, therefore, prevent illnesses. Many chronic illnesses result from prolonged exposure to unhealthy environments (Sands et al., 2021). for instance, obesity increases the chances of people getting diabetes. Therefore, screening for BMI may help people determine how much risk they have to enable them to make better decisions. It is also necessary to screen sugar levels and blood pressure to know whether one has abnormal or normal readings (Jiang et al., 2021). Screening may help reduce the costs and pains involved in disease management. For instance, style choices are usually more comfortable and cost-effective to manage than treatments for long-term disorders.
Despite the touted benefits, it is important not to overlook the limitations. One limitation of screening is that, unlike diagnosis, it does not use definitive tests to determine the presence of the illnesses. It only determines the people likely to have the illness so that further decisions can be made. Hence, it may cause distress, especially when it causes the detection of issues that the patient may not have wanted to look into (Sands et al., 2021). Also, screening is not prevention. It only informs prevention decisions. Hence, it is only beneficial if the illness can be prevented or if early management enables improved outcomes. Sometimes, knowing if one has a condition does not help. Instead, it leads to long-term distress and may reduce life quality (Sands, J et al., 2021). Also, some techniques, like X-ray, involve radiation. Hence, exposing someone to many radiation screens may increase their risk for other conditions.
In conclusion, even though screening is important for preventing evidence-based decisions, it also has limitations. It causes distress and direct harm to patients. Screening only has advantages when it enables prevention. However, for conditions that early management cannot help, screening has more limitations and advantages. Hence, it should not always be recommended.
References
Jiang, C., Fedewa, S. A., Wen, Y., Jemal, A., & Han, X. (2021). Shared decision making and prostate-specific antigen-based prostate cancer screening following the 2018 update of USPSTF screening guideline. Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, 24(1), 77-80. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-020-0227-1
Sands, J., Tammemägi, M. C., Couraud, S., Baldwin, D. R., Borondy-Kitts, A., Yankelevitz, D., … & McKee, B. (2021). Lung screening benefits and challenges: a review of the data and outline for implementation. Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 16(1), 37-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtho.2020.10.127
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