Identifying Subclinical Illness before the Advent of Serious Consequences

In reviewing the contents of this issue, I was struck by the theme of subclinical illness, a term that often leads to confusion. Subclinical should not be interpreted to mean that there is no change in physiologic function or well-being and that the problem is insignificant, but rather that conventional measures that have been used to evaluate an individual for the presence of a disease may not detect changes. Dr. Miller’s CME article in this issue clearly describes the effect of both subclinical hyperthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism on various health parameters, including the he...