Disease mongering

Disease mongering is a term used to describe the practice of widening the diagnostic boundaries of illnesses and aggressively promoting their public awareness in order to expand the markets for those who sell and deliver treatments. It is most commonly associated with the pharmaceutical industry.

Pronunciation

• /dɪˈziːz ˈmʌŋɡərɪŋ/

Etymology

The term "disease mongering" is derived from the English words "disease", meaning a disorder of structure or function in a human, and "monger", meaning a person who promotes a specified activity, situation, or feeling, especially one that is undesirable or discreditable.

Related Terms

• Medicalization
• Overdiagnosis
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Direct-to-consumer advertising

Description

Disease mongering is a pejorative term for the practice of expanding the diagnostic boundaries of illnesses, and promoting public awareness of such, in order to expand the markets for those who sell and deliver treatments, notably pharmaceutical companies. Critics suggest that disease mongering can result in overdiagnosis, overtreatment, medicalization of normal variants, and stigma against the "undiagnosed".

Examples

Examples of what some people call disease mongering include conditions like restless legs syndrome, baldness, osteoporosis, and erectile dysfunction. These conditions can be serious but are believed by some to be exaggerated by pharmaceutical companies to sell more of their products.

Criticism

Critics of disease mongering, including the medical and scientific community, argue that creating public awareness about less serious diseases may actually cause harm by prompting people who do not have a serious disease to seek medical help, leading to unnecessary treatments and costs.

See Also

• Medicalization
• Overdiagnosis
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Direct-to-consumer advertising

External links

• Medical encyclopedia article on Disease mongering
• Wikipedia's article - Disease mongering

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