Glossary

All steps intended to reduce the frequency of occurrence of a disease or reduce the spread of a disease in the absence of curative treatment:

• the purpose of primary prevention is to reduce the frequency of occurrence (incidence) of a disease for a given population. This prevention applies to a population in good health.
• the purpose of secondary prevention is to reduce the spread or recurrence of a disease once it has become manifest. This form of prevention applies to patients who have already shown a manifestation of the disease. One example of this are the platelet aggregation inhibiting drugs prescribed after myocardial infarction or a cerebrovascular accident.