Predictive medicine is a field of medicine that predicts the probability of disease. When an individual is predicted to have a high risk of a disease, preventive measures can be started in order to either prevent the disease altogether or significantly decrease its impact upon the patient. Preventive measures might be lifestyle modifications and/or increased monitoring by healthcare professionals.
Predictive medicine changes medicine from being reactive to being proactive, and has the potential to extend healthy lifetimes and to prevent disease. As yet it is not possible to predict with 100% certainty that a specific disease will occur. Predictive genetic testing is one of the key approaches in predictive medicine.