Population-based screening versus case detection.
India has a large burden of blindness and population-based screening is a strategy commonly employed to detect disease and prevent morbidity. However, not all diseases are amenable to screening. This communication examines the issue of "population-based screening" versus "case detection" in the Indian scenario. Using the example of glaucoma, it demonstrates that given the poor infrastructure, for a "rare" disease, case detection is more effective than population-based screening.
D001766:Blindness / Q000517:prevention & control; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015351:Vision Screening