What is the second stage in the four stages of prevention?

• A. Providing optimal health
• B. Preventing healthcare-associated complications
• C. Prevention altogether
• D. Early identification and treatment

Answer: (D)

The second stage of prevention focuses on catching disease early and starting treatment promptly to stop its progression. This stage comes after primary prevention, which aims to prevent disease from occurring in the first place, and before tertiary prevention, which aims to minimize harm and complications once disease is established. By identifying problems early—through screening, rapid diagnostics, and timely therapeutic intervention—the spread can be reduced and outcomes improved.

The other ideas map to different aims: prevention altogether describes preventing the disease from happening in the first place; preventing healthcare-associated complications relates to reducing harm once disease or injury has occurred; providing optimal health is about maximizing overall health and recovery, which sits later in the continuum.