Cascade effects of medical technology

Annu Rev Public Health. 2002:23:23-44. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.23.092101.134534. Epub 2001 Oct 25.

Abstract

Cascade effect refers to a process that proceeds in stepwise fashion from an initiating event to a seemingly inevitable conclusion. With regard to medical technology, the term refers to a chain of events initiated by an unnecessary test, an unexpected result, or patient or physician anxiety, which results in ill-advised tests or treatments that may cause avoidable adverse effects and/or morbidity. Examples include discovery of endocrine incidentalomas on head and body scans; irrelevant abnormalities on spinal imaging; tampering with random fluctuations in clinical measures; and unwanted aggressive care at the end of life. Common triggers include failing to understand the likelihood of false-positive results; errors in data interpretation; overestimating benefits or underestimating risks; and low tolerance of ambiguity. Excess capacity and perverse financial incentives may contribute to cascade effects as well. Preventing cascade effects may require better education of physicians and patients; research on the natural history of mild diagnostic abnormalities; achieving optimal capacity in health care systems; and awareness that more is not the same as better.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biomedical Technology*
  • Diagnostic Tests, Routine / methods
  • Disease / classification
  • Health Services Needs and Demand
  • Humans
  • Quality of Health Care
  • United States
  • Unnecessary Procedures