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Life & Times

Quaternary prevention: an evidence-based concept aiming to protect patients from medical harm

Carlos Martins, Maciek Godycki-Cwirko, Bruno Heleno and John Brodersen
British Journal of General Practice 2019; 69 (689): 614-615. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp19X706913
Carlos Martins
Family Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Information and Decision in Health (MEDCIDS) of the Faculty of Medicine of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Researcher, Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Porto, Portugal. Email: carlosmartins20@gmail.com
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  • For correspondence: carlosmartins20@gmail.com
Maciek Godycki-Cwirko
Faculty of Health Sciences, Centre for Family and Community Medicine, Medical University of Łódz, Łódz, Poland.
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Bruno Heleno
Chronic Diseases Research Centre, NOVA Medical School, NOVA University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal; Researcher, Comprehensive Research Health Center, Lisbon, Portugal.
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John Brodersen
Section of General Practice & Research Unit for General Practice, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Professor, Primary Healthcare Research Unit, Region Zealand, Denmark.
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In their recent article ‘Quaternary prevention: a balanced approach to demedicalisation’,1 Norman and Tesser (N&T) presented Kuehlein et al’s original definition of quaternary prevention as: ‘An action taken to identify a patient at risk of over-medicalization, to protect him from new medical invasion, and to suggest to him interventions which are ethically acceptable.’ 2

They concluded that this definition is more comprehensive than a new definition recently proposed by Brodersen et al: ‘Action taken to protect individuals (persons/patients) from medical interventions that are likely to cause more harm than good.’ 3

Here we elaborate further on this new definition that we strongly support and have already put into a general practice setting.4

First of all, we agree that quaternary prevention needs to be globally disseminated and that further research may contribute to such dissemination. The two aforementioned definitions give different perspectives on …

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British Journal of General Practice: 69 (689)
British Journal of General Practice
Vol. 69, Issue 689
December 2019
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Quaternary prevention: an evidence-based concept aiming to protect patients from medical harm
Carlos Martins, Maciek Godycki-Cwirko, Bruno Heleno, John Brodersen
British Journal of General Practice 2019; 69 (689): 614-615. DOI: 10.3399/bjgp19X706913

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Quaternary prevention: an evidence-based concept aiming to protect patients from medical harm
Carlos Martins, Maciek Godycki-Cwirko, Bruno Heleno, John Brodersen
British Journal of General Practice 2019; 69 (689): 614-615. DOI: 10.3399/bjgp19X706913
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Print ISSN: 0960-1643
Online ISSN: 1478-5242