Iceberg Phenomenon of Disease
A concept closely related to the spectrum of disease is the concept of the iceberg phenomenon of disease. According to this concept, disease in a community may be compared with an iceberg.
- The floating tip of the iceberg represent what the physician sees in the community, i.e., clinical cases.
- The vast submerged portion of the iceberg represent the hidden mass of disease, i.e., latent, inapparent, and undiagnosed cases and carrier in the community.
- The “waterline” represents the demarcation between apparent and inapparent disease.
In some diseases (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, anemia, malnutrition, mental illness) the unknown morbidity (i.e, the submerged portion of the iceberg) for exceeds the known morbidity. The hidden part of the iceberg thus constitute an important, undiagnosed reservoir of infection or disease in the community, and its detection and control is a challenge to modern technique in preventive medicine. In the study of chronic disease of unknown aetiology in the absence of methods to detect the subclinical state-the bottom of the iceberg.
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| Iceberg Phenomenon of Disease |
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