F2: “Sub-optimal health” predicts the risk of non-communicable disease in the general population

Tuesday 26 July 2022 | 15:00-16:00

Format: Workshop
Stream: Population and Public Health
Content filters: Co-presented with consumers, service users or carers

Suboptimal Health Status (SHS) is the physical state between health and disease, characterised by ambiguous health complaints in the absence of a diagnosable condition. SHS is considered a subclinical, reversible stage of pre-chronic disease. Detection of SHS has demonstrated the ability to predict the risk of certain chronic diseases before their onset, providing a window of opportunity to halt or reverse the progression of chronic disease.

Delegates will be introduced to concepts that can, 1) predict a person’s predisposition to disease before its onset, 2) reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases 3) challenge established practices using a robust evidence base.

After this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand that the current biomedical model of health has a reactive, delayed approach to treating non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD), that is, treatments are implemented after disease onset.


• Learn that SHS is aligns with Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (PPPM) by moving to a pro-active approach when managing NCD, i.e.: identifying persons at risk of developing chronic disease and initiating interventions earlier.


• Understand self-claimed “normal” health status may not represent health because asymptomatic subjects may carry chronic diseases at their early stage, such as cancer, diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis.


• Design and plan according to clinical needs, heterogeneity, and uncontrollability in precaution health studies.

Wei Wang, Edith Cowan University; Australia

Monique Garcia, Edith Cowan University; Australia