The Medicalization of Common Conditions

When JAMA Internal Medicine launched the Less Is More series 6 years ago, we commented that one area of concern was “medicalization” of common conditions.¹ In this issue, Shahraz et al² elegantly demonstrate how common conditions can be “medicalized.” Using NHANES data they find that a widely promoted web-based risk test would label more than 73 million Americans, including more than 80% of those older than 60 years, as being at high risk for “prediabetes,” a condition never heard of 10 years ago.² We suggest a better approach to preventing the epidemic of obesity and its multiple health-related complications is emphasis on healthful diet, weight loss when appropriate, and increased physical activity at all levels—by schools, the medical profession, and public health and governmental agencies.