A 52-year-old man visits a general practitioner for complaints of low backache. During the same consultation, the doctor measures his blood pressure and finds it elevated, leading to further evaluation for hypertension. The blood pressure check performed in this manner is an example of:

• A Surveillance
• B Mass screening
• C Case-finding (opportunistic screening) ✓
• D Prescriptive screening

Explanation

Case-finding or opportunistic screening means applying a screening test to patients who happen to present to a health facility for some other reason, without a organised invitation system. It is cheap and feasible in busy Indian outpatient settings, and blood pressure measurement at any consultation is the classic example. Mass screening requires active outreach to a whole population, surveillance is continuous monitoring of disease occurrence data, and prescriptive screening is done for employment or insurance purposes.

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.