Top ‘non-diseases’
Top “non-diseases” and percentage of doctors naming them:
| 1 Ageing |
44 |
| 2 Work |
35 |
| 3 Boredom |
32 |
| 4 Bags under eyes |
31 |
| 5 Ignorance |
28 |
| 6 Baldness |
28 |
| 7 Freckles |
27 |
| 8 Big ears |
26 |
| 9 Grey or white hair |
25 |
| 10 Ugliness |
24 |
Some others on the list (percentage):
Menopause (13), chronic fatigue syndrome / myalgic encephalomyelitis (13), obesity (8), fibromyalgia (8), transvestism (8), attention deficit disorder (8), stress (8), total allergy syndrome (8), Gulf War syndrome (7), premenstrual syndrome (7), infertility (4), most allergies (4), depression (2)
Doctors say disorders such as obesity, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome are not diseases.
A leading medical journal is about to risk the wrath of patient groups by asking whether certain conditions, from chronic fatigue syndrome to obesity to depression, ought to be reclassified as “non- diseases”.
The British Medical Journal, with the help of its doctor readership, has put together a list of 174 conditions that it feels could be reclassified. They range from social phobia and Gulf War syndrome to obesity and diabetes to jet lag, warts, big ears and bad breath.
The journal ran a poll of readers on its website to establish the top 10 conditions that they felt were best described as “non-diseases” ? classified as “a human process or problem that some have defined as a medical condition but where people may have better outcomes if the problem or process was not defined in that way”. Ageing came top, with the votes of 44% of the 570 readers who participated, followed by work, boredom and bags under the eyes.
But although the poll was small, a significant minority (13%) also wanted chronic fatigue syndrome/ME on the list.
Obesity and attention deficit disorder (or hyperactivity) made the list of 8% of the doctors, in spite of the fact that the national institute for clinical excellence has recently advised all GPs in Britain to prescribe certain new drugs for both conditions.
The forthcoming issue of the journal will include the poll in its themed issue on the “medicalisation of human experience”.
Few would deny that the old boundaries of medicine have been pushed back by new treatments for “lifestyle” problems, such as baldness, shyness and sexual dysfunction, which become a more pressing problem for the general public as the old diseases retreat thanks to medical advances. Midwives say that there has for many years been over-medicalisation of childbirth.
But the list of potential non- diseases is set to affront some groups who have found it hard to persuade the medical profession to accept their condition is real and treatable.
“I don’t think it is very helpful,” said Brian Dow of Action against ME. “Precisely what the merit can be of having something like ME next to something like big ears and judging them really defies description.
“I can’t see, with such a range of things, what the purpose of the exercise can be. It will go down badly with people.”
Mike Stone, director of the British Patients Association, said some might welcome being told they did not have a disease, “but I can imagine there will be a huge amount of other people saying I consider my condition to be a medical condition.
“Why do they need to make the distinction? If you turn around to someone who is infertile and say we shouldn’t be treating you in the same way as other patients, I think they’d be pretty miffed about it.”
The journal’s website makes clear, however, that it is not saying that people with “non-diseases” do not need help. “We are not suggesting that the suffering of many with ‘non-diseases’ may not be much greater than those with widely recognised diseases. Disease is a very slippery concept,” it says.