unscreened

Unscreened is an adjective meaning not subjected to a screening process or test. In health care and public health, screening involves applying a test, examination, or survey to individuals who do not yet have symptoms to identify disease, risk factors, or other conditions early, when treatment or intervention may be more effective.

Unscreened individuals may include those who have not participated in screening programs, either because of access barriers, personal choice, or systemic limitations. Screening programs target populations with elevated risk and aim to reduce morbidity and mortality by early detection. When people are unscreened, diseases or conditions may be diagnosed later, potentially after symptoms develop, which can complicate treatment and worsen outcomes.

Public health policy seeks to reduce the proportion of unscreened individuals by increasing access, education, and outreach, and by offering screening at multiple points of contact. Ethical considerations include informed consent, privacy, and ensuring equity so that at-risk groups are not disproportionately unscreened.

Common contexts include cancer screening (breast, cervical, colorectal), infectious disease screening (HIV, hepatitis), and newborn metabolic screening, among others. The term also appears in research and data contexts to describe populations or samples that have not undergone the baseline screening process.

See also: screening, preventive medicine, health equity.