[Drug risk intervention--a care technology in crisis?]

Drug treatment in patients who feel well but have an elevated risk of disease and premature death is steadily increasing. This kind of treatment is qualitatively different from the ordinary practice where patients visit a doctor because of symptoms or complaints. In recent decades, great confidence has evolved in this kind of risk intervention. Antihypertensive treatment is one example and risk intervention with drugs is also used in cases of hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis. The effect of this effort on public health has not been as great as expected. This kind of treatment has emerged gradually and without debating the principles. The author wants to start a debate about what kind of treatment we are experiencing. Is it quasi-treatment based on the premises of the technology? Should we think again about this kind of practice? The author suggests subjects for further debate, including the use of precise language, better co-operation with the persons at risk and further research.