A physician measures blood pressure of every adult who attends his outpatient department for any complaint, and refers those found hypertensive for further care. He does not run any organized community-wide campaign. This approach to detection of hypertension is called:

• A Mass screening
• B Multiphasic screening
• C Selective screening of a high-risk group
• D Opportunistic (case-finding) screening ✓

Explanation

Opportunistic or case-finding screening means applying a screening test to patients who present to health facilities for unrelated reasons, without an organized invitation system. Mass screening covers a whole defined population, multiphasic screening applies multiple tests simultaneously, and selective screening targets groups identified as high risk before contact. Since these adults attend for any complaint and are tested incidentally, the described practice is case-finding.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.