Cochrane Sustainable Healthcare: evidence for action on too much medicine

Medical excess threatens the health of individuals and the sustainability of health systems.[1][2][3] Unnecessary tests, treatments, and diagnoses bring direct harm to people through adverse effects of interventions,[3][4] psychosocial impacts of labelling,[5] and overwhelming burden of treatment.[6]Overuse and overdiagnosis also consumes scarce resources, leading to underuse and underdiagnosis in other areas, which indirectly harms patients.[7] As healthcare spending grows all over the world, [8] with poor correlation between increased costs and improved health in high-income countries,[9] there is growing recognition that much of that spending is unnecessary.[1][2] Increased costs of healthcare also draws resources from other societal sectors capable of improving health and wellbeing for the population.[10] By tackling the crisis of medical excess, we can reduce harm and prevent waste, making our health systems more sustainable and more beneficial for patients and societies.