[Integrated risk profiling allows prevention and early intervention].

Prevention and early intervention can alter the course and incidence of several chronic diseases. Integrated risk profiling is based on the fact that a single risk factor affects more than one condition. Integrated risk profiling uses these overlapping risk factors to calculate the risks of a number of conditions. When used in screening, these risks can be communicated to participants, providing feedback and helping them understand the conditions they are at risk of, eventually leading to better compliance with preventive and therapeutic interventions. In this paper we discuss the underlying principles and background of the rise in integrated risk profiling in public health. We demonstrate why the attractive concept of risk profiling needs further assessment to estimate its effectiveness relative to other methods of prevention, population screening and case finding.