overtreatment

noun

over·​treat·​ment ˌō-vər-ˈtrēt-mənt 

: treatment that is excessive or too frequent

especially : too much medical treatment

patients subjected to overtreatment due to new screening guidelines

Examples of overtreatment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

At the same time, just 6 percent of the posts mentioned two of the main potential risks of direct-to-consumer medical tests: overdiagnosis and overtreatment. —Emily Kay Votruba, EverydayHealth.com, 6 Mar. 2025

These estimates may include patients who don’t have Lyme disease, due to variations in clinical practice — for example, physicians treating presumptively, which can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment. —John Drake, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024

In some cases, additional screenings can lead women to be diagnosed and treated for cancers that would never have bothered them, problems known as overdiagnosis and overtreatment. —Liz Szabo, NBC News, 12 Oct. 2024

Hg – due to arm position – leading to overdiagnosis or overtreatment, in the form of a new prescription or dose modification. —Jacqueline Howard, CNN, 7 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1904, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overtreatment

• maltreatment
• mistreatment
• posttreatment
• pretreatment
• treatment