GPs rather than other specialists should be heading up the panels that define diseases, in order to tackle the growing problem of overdiagnosis, researchers say.  

The expansion of disease definitions means more people are labelled ‘unwell’, leading to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, according to a group of evidence-based researchers in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine.

Often the specialist guideline panels that expand definitions have close ties to industry and fail to take into account the harms of defining more people as sick, say the international academics, led by Professor Paul Glasziou, professor of evidence-based medicine at Bond University, Queensland.

They recommend setting up GP-led multidisciplinary teams that will include other specialists and representatives from patient organisations, with all members free of financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.