Diseases the doctor (or autoanalyser) says you have got

Much of modern medical practice involves treating patients with asymptomati c conditions or risk factors which I call 'diseases the doctors says you've got'. These generally asymptomatic conditions, which are usually discovere d by screening, include hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, many cases of type 2 diabetes and the post-menopausal state. My argument is that many doctors d o not have the interest or inclination to follow such patients. However, pe rsuading them to take their tablets or modify their diets or lifestyles is arguably more difficult than in the 'proper' diseases on which physicians s pend most of their training. I suggest that the only way of doing this is t o educate and enthuse the patients and find a way to make them as interesti ng as the cases of the rare diseases we all find so fascinating.