Insights on the German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians (DEGAM) guideline addressing medical overuse
Overdiagnosis is a common phenomenon. It is defined as the identification of an abnormality that would not have harmed the patient if it had not been detected. However, once detected, the knowledge of such an abnormality alone has the potential to harm the patient, both psychologically and physically.1 Next to problems for individuals, ‘too much medicine’ also contributes to problems in our healthcare systems: continuously rising healthcare costs, a shortage of healthcare workers, increasing burnout rates among them and increasing greenhouse gas emissions by the healthcare sector.2 Due to limited human, financial and environmental capacities, solutions must be found to better allocate the available resources. The international Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference (PODC) has been dedicated to this topic for 10 years now.3 In August 2023, the conference was held in Copenhagen. The aim of the PODC is the international scientific exchange on the topic of overdiagnosis. In addition to the im