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Concept

Secondary Prevention

Preventive Care

Action taken to detect a disease early, often before symptoms appear, so it can be treated while still manageable: cancer screening and blood pressure checks are secondary prevention. It sits between primary prevention, which acts before disease begins, and tertiary prevention, which manages an established condition.

Facts
First Described Year
1953 1
First Described EraSourced to the subject's own account
1940s; coined within the levels of prevention framework developed by Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark, which secondary prevention extends to early detection and prompt treatment of disease already present but not yet symptomatic. 2
Concept Class
Preventive care 3
Connections

Associated With

Source WHO: Cervical Cancer Fact Sheet
Health Screening Program, Practices

Screening asymptomatic populations for early disease is a textbook example of secondary prevention.

Source United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Official Site
Source United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Official Site
Source United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Official Site

In Branch

Source United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Official Site
Sources
1. Internet Archive: Textbook of Preventive Medicine (Leavell and Clark, 1953)
Internet ArchiveBibliographic record
Quote, Bibliographic record
First published in 1953 under title: Textbook of preventive medicine
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Disease Prevention
WikipediaHistory and overview section
Quote, History and overview section
In the 1940s, Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark coined the term primary prevention.
View the Source
3. United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Official Site
US Centers for Disease Control and PreventionView the Source
WHO: Cervical Cancer Fact Sheet
World Health OrganizationAssociated With: Cervical Cancer ScreeningView the Source
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