Question

The conditions favorable to population screening for pre-symptomatic diagnosis of a given disease include: i. a relatively high prevalence of the disease. ii. availability of effective treatment. iii. a screening test with a high degree of sensitivity. iv. availability of physicians to perform the screening test procedure. Which of the above statements are correct? A. i. and iii. Only B. i., ii., and iii. Only C. ii. and iv. Only D. i., ii., iii., and iv. E. iv. Only

Answer 1

The answer is B. (i,ii and iii)

High prevalence, in terms of measured morbidity, mortality and degree of outbreak is fundamental to know the nature of disease. The disease should ideally have detectable preclinical phase. Treatment should render effectiveness as against the pre-treatment phase. A screening test which is acceptable at levels of cost and accuracy should be made available. These are the general criteria to follow prior to making any decision that offers screening of a population based on health factors.