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Prevention

In what ways do we deal with illness and disease? Too often we wait until there is a diagnosed illness. At that point, the illness is treated. An example:

A person who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years develops a cancerous tumor. The tumor is removed.


This is an illustration of tertiary prevention--when an illness is treated after it has occurred.

In other instances, we may deal with an illness when there is a sign or symptom that something is wrong. An example:

A person who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day develops a chronic cough. The person stops smoking.

This scenario represents secondary prevention--when a less-extreme sign or symptom of disease becomes present, a behavior change is made to halt its progression.

Optimally, it would be beneficial to maximize the number of healthy behaviors and minimize the number of unhealthy behaviors to stop disease development before it even starts. An example:

A person, in order to prevent cancer or cardiovascular disease, never starts smoking.


This situation demonstrates primary prevention--evasion of disease by participating in healthy behaviors and refraining from unhealthy behaviors.

An example of the importance of primary prevention is seen in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 2006 document, "Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention At a Glance 2009" (O).

Educational Enrichment

More on Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Prevention at the Library Index

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

National Academy Press' Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care (2003)

Last Revised: 6-28-10