How Common is Failure to Diagnose?

The failure to diagnose a condition is one of the most common types of misdiagnosis. Malpractice lawsuits from failure or delayed diagnosis occur mostly, in terms of dollar value, from conditions such as heart attack, breast cancer, appendicitis, lung cancer, and colon cancer. However, these are not the most common undiagnosed conditions, but are simply the ones that lead to the most rapid damages. Serious conditions such as diabetes and hypertension are very commonly undiagnosed, but do not lead as rapidly to severe injury (and hence to dollar awards in malpractice lawsuits).

To examine how commonly failure-to-diagnose or delayed diagnosis occurs, here is a list of conditions according to the number of people undiagnosed. This is an estimate of how many people unknowingly currently have the condition. For comparison, see conditions by people affected (prevalence or incidence), conditions by prevalence and conditions by incidence. See also details about prevalence and incidence statistics for more information. In most cases, the rates refer to the USA or other industrialized nations.





Footnotes:

1. Reader's Digest, February 2004, "10 Diseases Doctors Miss", page 120

