早期偏倚

Protopathic bias occurs when a pharmaceutical agent is inadvertently prescribed for an early manifestation of a disease that has not yet been diagnostically detected. When the disease is later discovered, a causal relationship may be incorrectly inferred between the pharmaceutical agent and the disease. The problem arises when a patient has a target disease whose existence has not yet been suspected or diagnosed, and when that disease has an early (or protopathic) manifestation which becomes the stimulus for prescription of the alleged etiologic agent.

早期偏倚，当一个药物用来治疗某些早期症状，而这些早期的症状是由尚未被诊断或发现的疾病所导致，若之后该疾病发生了或被诊断，就错误的认为该药物导致了疾病的发生，即错误的推断该药物与疾病之间存在因果关系。