The Morbidity of Cardiac Nondisease in Schoolchildren

CLINICAL medicine concerns itself mainly with the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Most physicians would agree, however, that their job properly entails promotion of positive health. The distinction is more than a semantic one. Too many people exist in an unnecessary limbo where they either perceive themselves or are perceived by others to have a nonexistent disease. Such a person may be as disabled or "unhealthy" as if he actually had the disease. In a classic satiric article, Meador1 proposed an organized "science of nondisease" to deal with this sadly neglected problem.Prevalence data on nondisease are lacking; appropriate epidemiologic . . .