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Quantifying Wellness: Beyond the Dichotomous Choice Between Health and Disease Lies the Road to P6 Medicine

Received: 7 May 2018    Accepted: 23 July 2018    Published: 18 August 2018
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Abstract

Systems medicine is the culmination of the progression of the health/disease dichotomy to a continuum from health to disease allowing for measures of disease accumulation that mark an individual’s position, i.e., her wellness, along the continuum. Proponents of systems medicine have promised a scientific (non-normative), value-free, holistic measure of “wellness” that will be the cornerstone of P4 (personalized, predictive, preventive and participatory) medicine. While the focus of this paper is on the quantification of wellness, the authors also consider how this metric drives the rest of the P4 program. The authors trace the history of this development in order to appreciate the promises, problems, pitfalls, and perils that accompany this approach. To the 4Ps already in place, the authors add P5 = promissory and P6 = profitable, and find that the road to P6 medicine is paved with neoliberal theories.

Published in Advances in Sciences and Humanities (Volume 4, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ash.20180402.12
Page(s) 25-36
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Health, Disease, Illness, Systems Medicine, Neoliberalism, Biomedicalization, Commodification

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    Charles Joseph Kowalski, Adam Joel Mrdjenovich. (2018). Quantifying Wellness: Beyond the Dichotomous Choice Between Health and Disease Lies the Road to P6 Medicine. Advances in Sciences and Humanities, 4(2), 25-36. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ash.20180402.12

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    ACS Style

    Charles Joseph Kowalski; Adam Joel Mrdjenovich. Quantifying Wellness: Beyond the Dichotomous Choice Between Health and Disease Lies the Road to P6 Medicine. Adv. Sci. Humanit. 2018, 4(2), 25-36. doi: 10.11648/j.ash.20180402.12

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    AMA Style

    Charles Joseph Kowalski, Adam Joel Mrdjenovich. Quantifying Wellness: Beyond the Dichotomous Choice Between Health and Disease Lies the Road to P6 Medicine. Adv Sci Humanit. 2018;4(2):25-36. doi: 10.11648/j.ash.20180402.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ash.20180402.12,
      author = {Charles Joseph Kowalski and Adam Joel Mrdjenovich},
      title = {Quantifying Wellness: Beyond the Dichotomous Choice Between Health and Disease Lies the Road to P6 Medicine},
      journal = {Advances in Sciences and Humanities},
      volume = {4},
      number = {2},
      pages = {25-36},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ash.20180402.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ash.20180402.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ash.20180402.12},
      abstract = {Systems medicine is the culmination of the progression of the health/disease dichotomy to a continuum from health to disease allowing for measures of disease accumulation that mark an individual’s position, i.e., her wellness, along the continuum. Proponents of systems medicine have promised a scientific (non-normative), value-free, holistic measure of “wellness” that will be the cornerstone of P4 (personalized, predictive, preventive and participatory) medicine. While the focus of this paper is on the quantification of wellness, the authors also consider how this metric drives the rest of the P4 program. The authors trace the history of this development in order to appreciate the promises, problems, pitfalls, and perils that accompany this approach. To the 4Ps already in place, the authors add P5 = promissory and P6 = profitable, and find that the road to P6 medicine is paved with neoliberal theories.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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    AB  - Systems medicine is the culmination of the progression of the health/disease dichotomy to a continuum from health to disease allowing for measures of disease accumulation that mark an individual’s position, i.e., her wellness, along the continuum. Proponents of systems medicine have promised a scientific (non-normative), value-free, holistic measure of “wellness” that will be the cornerstone of P4 (personalized, predictive, preventive and participatory) medicine. While the focus of this paper is on the quantification of wellness, the authors also consider how this metric drives the rest of the P4 program. The authors trace the history of this development in order to appreciate the promises, problems, pitfalls, and perils that accompany this approach. To the 4Ps already in place, the authors add P5 = promissory and P6 = profitable, and find that the road to P6 medicine is paved with neoliberal theories.
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Author Information
  • Health and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

  • Health and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

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