Risk identification and management in clinical practice. Techniques for risk appraisal, screening, and monitoring

The data on factors that adversely affect health status are mounting, and information on behavioral and environmental means of preventing certain types of disease is becoming more widely available; yet preventive medicine is still seen as a less dynamic form of clinical practice than the crisis-oriented, complaint-responsive form. In this article, first in a series, the author reviews attitudes toward preventive medicine, discusses factors that affect health, explains the notion of how "prospective" medicine can develop through the use of health hazard appraisal, and reviews his and other researchers' ideas about screening tests, periodic physical examinations, health monitoring, and risk-factor identification in physical exams.