What’s the difference between disorder, disease, ailment, illness and syndrome
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I found an article that seems to explain each.
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They are all equally awful!
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A disease is a pathophysiological response to internal or external factors.
A disorder is a disruption to regular bodily structure and function.
A syndrome is a collection of signs and symptoms associated with a specific health-related cause.
A condition is an abnormal state of health that interferes with normal or regular feelings of wellbeing.
Good stuff! Yes @mermaid1 they are all really bad!!! I think disease sounds the worst though.
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Not much.
The terms can mean basically the same or different things depending on how they are used and the context in which they are used.
Usually used interchangeably, but disease tends to be temporary and disorder tends to be long-standing condition.
Disease isn’t temporary. I mean alcoholism is permanent. Is that an exception?
This is a semantics issue. A disease could be an acute or a chronic one. Acute means a sudden onset usually within a few hours to days. Chronic usually refers to more than three weeks. This may be an infectious disease or otherwise, like acute heart attack or chronic anemia.
Whether or not a disease is considered permanent depends on the specific diagnosis. For example, one can have pneumonia or bronchitis infection that is curable and therefore temporary. Some diseases like “COPD” - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - would be considered long-standing.
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They basically all mean the same thing.
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