Synonyms
Early detection and treatment of diseases
Definition
Secondary prevention is the health management strategy that aims at the identification and treatment of asymptomatic persons who have already developed risk factors or preclinical disease but in whom the condition has not become clinically apparent (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force 1996). The term prevention is derived from the latin verb “praevenire” which means “coming before”. Its meaning is that something is effectively done before a disease state evolves in order to make this disease state impossible or less likely. Whereas primary prevention refers to an intervention before clinical risk factors or preclinical changes have evolved, and tertiary prevention refers to an intervention that aims to mitigate health consequences of a clinical disease, secondary prevention aims at the early detection and treatmentof a condition with superior cure rates compared to the treatment of clinically apparent cases (Commission on...
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© 2008 Springer-Verlag
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Wildner, M., Nennstiel-Ratzel, U. (2008). Prevention, Secondary . In: Kirch, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Public Health. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5614-7_2760
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5614-7_2760
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5613-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5614-7
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