Diseases the doctor (or autoanalyser) says you have got

Abstract

Much of modern medical practice involves treating patients with asymptomatic conditions or risk factors which I call 'diseases the doctors says you've got'. These generally asymptomatic conditions, which are usually discovered by screening, include hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, many cases of type 2 diabetes and the post-menopausal state. My argument is that many doctors do not have the interest or inclination to follow such patients. However, persuading them to take their tablets or modify their diets or lifestyles is arguably more difficult than in the 'proper' diseases on which physicians spend most of their training. I suggest that the only way of doing this is to educate and enthuse the patients and find a way to make them as interesting as the cases of the rare diseases we all find so fascinating.