Screening (medicine) - Limitations of Screening

Limitations of Screening

Screening can detect medical conditions at an early stage before symptoms present while treatment is more effective than for later detection. In the best of cases lives are saved. Like any medical test, the tests used in screening are not perfect. The test result may incorrectly show positive for those without disease (false positive), or negative for people who have the condition (false negative). Limitations of screening programmes can include:

• Screening can involve cost and use of medical resources on a majority of people who do not need treatment.
• Adverse effects of screening procedure (e.g. stress and anxiety, discomfort, radiation exposure, chemical exposure).
• Stress and anxiety caused by a false positive screening result.
• Unnecessary investigation and treatment of false positive results.
• Stress and anxiety caused by prolonging knowledge of an illness without any improvement in outcome.
• A false sense of security caused by false negatives, which may delay final diagnosis.