Disease and Disorder Terms
Diagnosed illnesses, syndromes, disorders, and abnormal health conditions. Browse definitions and meanings below.
What is a disease?
A disease is a condition that disturbs the normal structure or function of the body and usually produces recognizable signs and symptoms. A disorder is a broader word for any disruption of normal function, and the two are often used interchangeably in everyday clinical language.
The words used to classify conditions carry precise meanings. Acute and chronic describe how long something lasts rather than how serious it is, congenital means present at birth, and idiopathic means the cause is unknown rather than that no cause exists.
Terms in this topic
Alphabetical order-
A common skin condition, acne blocks and inflames hair follicles and their attached oil glands, producing pimples, blackheads, and cysts.
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A genetic condition in which tumors form on the nerves of the inner ear and cause loss of hearing and balance.
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A disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
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Changes arrive so slowly that old photographs, a ring that no longer fits or a rising shoe size often reveal them first.
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Often easier to feel than to see, these sandpaper patches mark skin that has absorbed decades of ultraviolet damage.
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Inflammation of the prostate gland that begins suddenly and gets worse quickly.
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Compulsion is the defining feature, not the amount used, which is why a person can be dependent on a medicine without being addicted to it.
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Adenopathy refers to enlarged lymph nodes, a finding that can result from infection, inflammation, or, less often, a malignant process.
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An overgrowth of glandular tissue that is harmless in itself but can imitate cancer closely enough to require a biopsy.
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Adjustment disorder involves emotional or behavioral symptoms that develop in response to an identifiable stressor and exceed an expected reaction.
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A condition in which there is a slow breakdown of cells in the center of the retina (the light-sensitive layers of nerve tissue at the back of the eye).
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Pigment is only half the story, since the same genes shape the retina and the optic nerves, so eyesight is always involved.
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The point at which the nervous system has rearranged itself around alcohol, so stopping produces withdrawal and drinking keeps that at bay.
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The shorter name for a rare inherited triad, still turning up in older records long after the fuller version became standard.
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Two abnormal proteins, amyloid and tau, accumulate in the brain for years before any memory problem becomes obvious enough to notice.
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Reading, driving and recognizing faces all rely on the macula, and AMD is a leading cause of central vision loss in later life.
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What matters is which protein misfolded, because the answer sets the organs at risk, the likely course, and the treatment aimed at the source.
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A condition in which the number of red blood cells is below normal.
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A weakened patch of artery wall stretched outward by the pressure inside it, usually silent until the day it is not.
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A condition in which the bone marrow is unable to produce blood cells.