Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsReasonsHow Common Is It?OutcomesWhat to Do
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Reasons
How Common Is It?
Outcomes
What to Do
Medical conditions can be difficult to diagnose for a number of reasons. For example, you may have overlapping conditions or a rare disease that isn’t on your healthcare provider’s radar.
When your doctor can’t diagnose you, it may help to ask questions about additional testing, seek a referral to a specialist, or get a second opinion. Failure to get an accurate diagnosis can delay treatment and potentially worsen your condition.
This article explains what to do when doctors can’t diagnose you. It also discusses possible reasons why something may be overlooked and offers examples of conditions commonly missed.
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Why Your Doctor Can’t Diagnose You
The science of medicine may be highly advanced, but that doesn’t mean that it is always exact or perfect. Your doctor may not be able to reach a diagnosis when:
What Is Failure to Diagnose?
How Often Are Patients Undiagnosed?
Statistics on the frequency of missed diagnoses vary according to the symptoms or the eventual diagnosis. Some examples are:
Common Missed Diagnoses
A missed diagnosis can occur in almost any disease or condition. Research has found that multiple common conditions often go undiagnosed. These include:
Rare Diseases Are Often Missed
People with rare diseases are especially likely to go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Rare diseases are often genetic conditions and not on a doctor’s radar.
According to the World Economic Forum, 40% of patients with a rare disease received more than one wrong diagnosis before the actual cause was found. What’s more, children with rare diseases can wait six to eight years to get an accurate diagnosis.
The National Organization for Rare Diseases reports more than 7,000 medical conditions fall under the rare disease classification.The most common rare diseases include:
Outcomes Resulting From Lack of Diagnosis
Things that can happen if your healthcare provider can’t reach a clear diagnosis include:
Ruling diagnoses out, rather than confirming what you have, can be frustrating. However, it can help narrow the possibilities and get your healthcare provider closer to finding out exactly what is wrong with you.
What to Do When Doctors Can’t Diagnose You
Having troubling symptoms without a diagnosis for an extended period of time can be extremely frustrating. Tactics for solving your undiagnosed disease or condition include:
When You Can’t Get a Diagnosis
11 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Organization for Rare Diseases.What it means to be undiagnosed.National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.Improving diagnosis in health care.American Cancer Society.Key statistics for lung cancer.Harvard Medical School: Undiagnosed Diseases Network.Frequently asked questions.Gupta P, Zhao D, Guallar E, Ko F, Boland MV, Friedman DS.Prevalence of glaucoma in the United States: the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016;57(6):2905–2913. doi:10.1167/iovs.15-18469Braley TJ, Dunietz GL, Chervin RD, Lisabeth LD, Skolarus LE, Burke JF.Recognition and diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea in older Americans.J Am Geriatr Soc. 2018;66(7):1296-1302. doi:10.1111/jgs.15372National Cancer Institute: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.Cancer stat facts: ovarian cancer.CRICO Strategies.2014 Annual benchmarking report: malpractice risks in the diagnostic process.Fernholm R, Pukk Härenstam K, Wachtler C, Nilsson GH, Holzmann MJ, Carlsson AC.Diagnostic errors reported in primary healthcare and emergency departments: a retrospective and descriptive cohort study of 4830 reported cases of preventable harm in Sweden.Eur J Gen Pract. 2019;25(3):128-135. doi:10.1080/13814788.2019.1625886Newman-Toker DE, Wang Z, Zhu Y, et al.Rate of diagnostic errors and serious misdiagnosis-related harms for major vascular events, infections, and cancers: toward a national incidence estimate using the “Big Three”.Diagnosis (Berl). 2020;8(1):67-84. doi:10.1515/dx-2019-0104World Economic Forum.It takes far too long for a rare disease to be diagnosed. Here’s how that can change.
11 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Organization for Rare Diseases.What it means to be undiagnosed.National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.Improving diagnosis in health care.American Cancer Society.Key statistics for lung cancer.Harvard Medical School: Undiagnosed Diseases Network.Frequently asked questions.Gupta P, Zhao D, Guallar E, Ko F, Boland MV, Friedman DS.Prevalence of glaucoma in the United States: the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016;57(6):2905–2913. doi:10.1167/iovs.15-18469Braley TJ, Dunietz GL, Chervin RD, Lisabeth LD, Skolarus LE, Burke JF.Recognition and diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea in older Americans.J Am Geriatr Soc. 2018;66(7):1296-1302. doi:10.1111/jgs.15372National Cancer Institute: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.Cancer stat facts: ovarian cancer.CRICO Strategies.2014 Annual benchmarking report: malpractice risks in the diagnostic process.Fernholm R, Pukk Härenstam K, Wachtler C, Nilsson GH, Holzmann MJ, Carlsson AC.Diagnostic errors reported in primary healthcare and emergency departments: a retrospective and descriptive cohort study of 4830 reported cases of preventable harm in Sweden.Eur J Gen Pract. 2019;25(3):128-135. doi:10.1080/13814788.2019.1625886Newman-Toker DE, Wang Z, Zhu Y, et al.Rate of diagnostic errors and serious misdiagnosis-related harms for major vascular events, infections, and cancers: toward a national incidence estimate using the “Big Three”.Diagnosis (Berl). 2020;8(1):67-84. doi:10.1515/dx-2019-0104World Economic Forum.It takes far too long for a rare disease to be diagnosed. Here’s how that can change.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Organization for Rare Diseases.What it means to be undiagnosed.National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.Improving diagnosis in health care.American Cancer Society.Key statistics for lung cancer.Harvard Medical School: Undiagnosed Diseases Network.Frequently asked questions.Gupta P, Zhao D, Guallar E, Ko F, Boland MV, Friedman DS.Prevalence of glaucoma in the United States: the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016;57(6):2905–2913. doi:10.1167/iovs.15-18469Braley TJ, Dunietz GL, Chervin RD, Lisabeth LD, Skolarus LE, Burke JF.Recognition and diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea in older Americans.J Am Geriatr Soc. 2018;66(7):1296-1302. doi:10.1111/jgs.15372National Cancer Institute: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.Cancer stat facts: ovarian cancer.CRICO Strategies.2014 Annual benchmarking report: malpractice risks in the diagnostic process.Fernholm R, Pukk Härenstam K, Wachtler C, Nilsson GH, Holzmann MJ, Carlsson AC.Diagnostic errors reported in primary healthcare and emergency departments: a retrospective and descriptive cohort study of 4830 reported cases of preventable harm in Sweden.Eur J Gen Pract. 2019;25(3):128-135. doi:10.1080/13814788.2019.1625886Newman-Toker DE, Wang Z, Zhu Y, et al.Rate of diagnostic errors and serious misdiagnosis-related harms for major vascular events, infections, and cancers: toward a national incidence estimate using the “Big Three”.Diagnosis (Berl). 2020;8(1):67-84. doi:10.1515/dx-2019-0104World Economic Forum.It takes far too long for a rare disease to be diagnosed. Here’s how that can change.
National Organization for Rare Diseases.What it means to be undiagnosed.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.Improving diagnosis in health care.
American Cancer Society.Key statistics for lung cancer.
Harvard Medical School: Undiagnosed Diseases Network.Frequently asked questions.
Gupta P, Zhao D, Guallar E, Ko F, Boland MV, Friedman DS.Prevalence of glaucoma in the United States: the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016;57(6):2905–2913. doi:10.1167/iovs.15-18469
Braley TJ, Dunietz GL, Chervin RD, Lisabeth LD, Skolarus LE, Burke JF.Recognition and diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea in older Americans.J Am Geriatr Soc. 2018;66(7):1296-1302. doi:10.1111/jgs.15372
National Cancer Institute: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.Cancer stat facts: ovarian cancer.
CRICO Strategies.2014 Annual benchmarking report: malpractice risks in the diagnostic process.
Fernholm R, Pukk Härenstam K, Wachtler C, Nilsson GH, Holzmann MJ, Carlsson AC.Diagnostic errors reported in primary healthcare and emergency departments: a retrospective and descriptive cohort study of 4830 reported cases of preventable harm in Sweden.Eur J Gen Pract. 2019;25(3):128-135. doi:10.1080/13814788.2019.1625886
Newman-Toker DE, Wang Z, Zhu Y, et al.Rate of diagnostic errors and serious misdiagnosis-related harms for major vascular events, infections, and cancers: toward a national incidence estimate using the “Big Three”.Diagnosis (Berl). 2020;8(1):67-84. doi:10.1515/dx-2019-0104
World Economic Forum.It takes far too long for a rare disease to be diagnosed. Here’s how that can change.
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