Levels of prevention 9/6/22

Public health is about prevention

3 levels of prevention
- Primary prevention: action taken to avert occurrence of disease
o Healthy, without signs/symptoms of disease/illness/injury
o Eat healthy, exercise, wear sunscreen, don’t drink in excess
§ Likely to prevent onset of disease
- Secondary prevention: preventative measures that lead to early diagnosis and prompt
treatment of disease to limit disability/prevent more severe pathogenicity
o Disease, illness, or injury
o The things we do to detect disease at its earliest stages
o Screening programs, taking BP, having a mammogram
o Purpose is early detection so if there is something going on, we can do something
about it before it gets worse
o SS: secondary/screening
- Tertiary prevention: Preventative measures aimed at rehabilitation following significant
pathogenesis
o Disability, impairment, or dependency
o Treatment aimed at preventing death
o TT: tertiary/treatment

Skin cancer
- Primary prevention: wear sunscreen, limited exposure to sun, wear long sleeves, wear a
hat
- Secondary prevention: go to dermatologist annually
- Tertiary prevention: surgical removal, topical chemotherapy
Heart disease
- Primary prevention: eat a healthy diet, exercise
- Secondary prevention: checking blood pressure, looking at cholesterol, ultrasound of
heart
- Tertiary prevention: stent, open heart surgery, cholesterol/BP medication

Smoking cessation program – primary

Taking chemo for lung cancer – tertiary
Having surgery to remove malignant tumor – tertiary
Taking folic acid supplements – primary
Going to the doctor for a cholesterol test – secondary
- Screening at the doctor is secondary, treatment at the doctor is tertiary

9/8/22

Juul
1. Public health issue because it affected 5 million young people. Morbidity due to lung
disease/chronic lung disease/addictive disorder. (don’t put behavior in number one)