What does the term diagnostic overshadowing mean?

• A. Attributing symptoms of a physical illness to the IDD
• B. Mislabeling a condition as purely psychiatric
• C. Overusing diagnostic testing
• D. Delaying evaluation due to time constraints

Answer: (A)

Diagnostic overshadowing happens when clinicians interpret a patient’s new or ongoing physical symptoms as just part of their intellectual or developmental disability, rather than investigating for a separate medical issue. This bias can hide real illnesses and lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment because the medical problem is assumed to be already explained by the disability.

For example, chest pain or abdominal changes might be attributed to behavior or the disability itself instead of being checked for a treatable medical condition. The idea is specifically about attributing physical health problems to the disability, not about labeling something as purely psychiatric, overutilizing tests, or systemic time-pressure delays.