Would you want to know if you were at risk of a disease? Why or why not?

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From innovative treatments to unequal access to medicine, I cover health topics and keep an eye on Switzerland's Health Valley. I'm Swiss-Turkish, and have a background in communications, journalism and photography. Before joining SWI swissinfo.ch, I covered technology and health at Euronews, and my work has been featured in international outlets including Fayn Press, Mediapart, Le Temps and Times of Malta.

Français

Souhaiteriez-vous savoir si vous êtes à risque de contracter une maladie et pour quelles raisons?
Italiano

Vorreste sapere se siete a rischio di contrarre una malattia? Perché sì o perché no?
Español

¿Le gustaría saber si corre el riesgo de padecer una enfermedad? ¿Por qué sí o por qué no?
Português

Você gostaria de saber com antecedência se tem risco de desenvolver uma doença?
العربية

هل تفضل.ين التشخيص المبكّر؟ ولماذا؟
中文

如果你有患病风险，你会想提前知道吗？为什么？
Русский

Знать или не знать — о том, что вам грозит серьёзное заболевание?

Diseases are being diagnosed earlier thanks to more powerful and accessible medical devices.

But experts warn that this practice can lead to overdiagnosis or the treatment of a disease that won’t progress to cause symptoms.

How early would you like to know if you were prone to a disease, and have you ever experienced issues with a diagnosis?

Tell us about your story and if you have any personal experiences that you would like to share privately, write to me at aylin.elci@swissinfo.ch

A medical personnel helps a patient in a CT scanner, used for diagnosis.

Health systems

When diagnosing a disease does more harm than good

This content was published on Aug 25, 2025 Switzerland has the highest number of MRI scanners per person in Europe. But more screening doesn’t always lead to better health outcomes.

JARN 2025-08-30 05:12

Diagnostics are only as good as the humans who design, program, or implement them. At a university hospital here in Switzerland, my rare disease was completely missed because they hadn’t updated their diagnostic criteria or testing panels.____I suffered for six years before seeking care in another city, where the hospital was using up-to-date diagnostics. There, my very first blood test immediately revealed the disease.____This experience taught me that under-diagnosis can be just as harmful as over-diagnosis. Medical knowledge and testing evolve quickly, and when institutions fail to keep up, patients pay the price. ____I spent many thousands on unnecessary testing. So which is worse, knowing you have a disease that may manifest or not, or not being diagnosed at all because ehe hospital does not keep current with diagnostic criteria? It's a fine line and it's the patients who suffer.

Aylin Elçi SWI SWISSINFO.CH 2025-09-09 14:56

@JARN

A fine line indeed. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Would you want to know if you were at risk of a disease? Why or why not?

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When diagnosing a disease does more harm than good

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