Question:medium

Prospective screening is done in the case of:

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Which screening is done at an authority's request for others' benefit rather than the person's own?
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
  • Neonate for thyroid diseases
  • Immigrant screening
  • Pap smear for a 45-year-old female
  • Diabetes mellitus for a 40-year-old male
Show Solution

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Ask one question of each option: is the screening for the person's own benefit, or for others and disease control? Prospective screening is the latter.

By definition, prospective screening is requested by an authority, aims primarily at case detection, and serves the protection of the community rather than the individual being tested. Immigrant screening fits perfectly: a country screens incoming migrants to catch and contain communicable disease, mainly for public benefit, so option $b$ is correct.

The other three are individual-benefit programmes. Neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism ($a$), a Pap smear for cervical cancer ($c$), and diabetes screening in a middle-aged man ($d$) are all early-detection efforts aimed squarely at helping the person screened.

So the prospective-screening example is immigrant screening, option $b$.
Ref: Park's PSM, concepts of screening.
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