How to Use overdiagnosis in a Sentence
overdiagnosis
noun-
The rate of overdiagnosis more than doubled, from 8% of cases to 17%.
—Melissa Healy, Anchorage Daily News, 9 May 2023
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That decision was prompted by concerns the test was leading to overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
—Mike Stobbe, The Seattle Times, 8 Jan. 2019
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But the study upends prior results that indicated the test did more harm than good, leading to overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
—O. Rose Broderick, STAT, 18 May 2026
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What causes overdiagnosis is the polycystic presentation of the ovary, which is very common.
—Annalisa Merelli, STAT, 1 Apr. 2026
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Lead time and overdiagnosis can only increase survival statistics.
—H. Gilbert Welch, STAT, 14 Jan. 2022
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Hg – due to arm position – leading to overdiagnosis or overtreatment, in the form of a new prescription or dose modification.
—Jacqueline Howard, CNN, 7 Oct. 2024
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Getting mammograms too early or too frequently has brought up concerns about false positives and overdiagnosis.
—Lauren J. Young, Scientific American, 2 June 2023
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Gilbert Welch, the overdiagnosis skeptic, suggested keeping the flow of real-time data to a minimum.
—Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 14 Dec. 2020
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Also, two extra women would be treated for tumors that never would have become life-threatening — that overdiagnosis problem.
—Lauran Neergaard, Fox News, 7 Dec. 2017
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In contrast, the potential harms of overdiagnosis remain largely unproven.
—Carol Mathews, The Conversation, 15 Oct. 2025
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The diagnostic criteria are still fuzzy, and the potential for overdiagnosis is enormous.
—Benedict Carey, New York Times, 2 July 2018
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But medicine has become a business replete with overdiagnosis and overtreatment—and skyrocketing medical charges.
—Carolyn Barber, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2020
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There have long been concerns about PSA testing due to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and doctors still debate the test’s overall value.
—Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 21 Jan. 2026
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Nonetheless, many experts agree that overdiagnosis is real and demonstrable at the population level.
—Asia Friedman, STAT, 27 July 2023
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Hazard-Jenkins acknowledges that overdiagnosis is indeed a significant problem in the case of breast cancer.
—Simar Bajaj, Scientific American, 6 Sep. 2022
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In some cases, additional screenings can lead women to be diagnosed and treated for cancers that would never have bothered them, problems known as overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
—Liz Szabo, NBC News, 12 Oct. 2024
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Doctors have often dismissed and minimized patients’ concerns, and others have profited from overdiagnosis.
—Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2021
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Interested consumers now have a range of options, though all are costly, not covered by insurance and carry risks like overdiagnosis or creating a false sense of security.
—David Oliver, USA Today, 23 Feb. 2026
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Van Gils said the study is ongoing and that mathematical models will be run to make further predictions about mortality and overdiagnosis.
—Arkansas Online, 28 Nov. 2019
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Over-testing of asymptomatic men and women can lead to overdiagnosis (flagging of microtumors and other anomalies that never would have compromised health) and overtreatment.
—John Horgan, Scientific American, 30 Sep. 2021
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While early screening can lead to the risk of overdiagnosis, understanding a child’s developmental needs can help guide families toward resources that address those needs sooner.
—Angelica P. Ahrens, The Conversation, 2 Oct. 2024
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The prevailing dental economic model based on fee-for-service creates an environment of dental overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
—Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 7 May 2024
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Overall, doctors both involved with and not involved with the study aren't concerned about the Galleri test and overdiagnosis, or sending people down a path of unnecessary endless treatment.
—David Oliver, USA Today, 5 Nov. 2025
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And more news organizations are now reporting on the problem of overdiagnosis, although even these reports usually fail to caution that cancer screening is what leads to those diagnoses in the first place.
—David Ropeik, STAT, 28 Feb. 2022
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Detecting these slow-growing tumors is considered overdiagnosis, because the cancer ultimately will not harm the patient during their lifetime.
—Luisel Ricks-Santi, The Conversation, 20 May 2025
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And some researchers fear new AI models’ focus on minute signs of disease could cause an epidemic of overdiagnosis, leading to unnecessary biopsies and surgeries.
—Elizabeth Svoboda, Discover Magazine, 13 June 2022
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Guaranteeing that the benefits outweigh any harm from overdiagnosis, overtreatment, false results and complications.
—Yair Paska, Forbes, 13 Oct. 2021
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Yet worrying about overdiagnosis does not help the treatment of individual patients, interventionists say.
—Asia Friedman, STAT, 27 July 2023
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The paper’s authors also say that an abnormal reading could cause an overdiagnosis of an infant, which could spark a visit to the ER, followed by unnecessary blood tests and X-rays.
—Korin Miller, SELF, 14 Aug. 2017
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Some general practitioners and urologists elsewhere in the world were slow to adopt PSA testing because of concern about overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
—Howard Wolinsky, STAT, 21 Jan. 2026
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overdiagnosis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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