Pathology Flashcards

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts in pathology, including disease definitions, models of health, and epigenetics.

Disease

Biologic/Psychologic changes leading to organ or system malfunction, indicated by objective changes.

Illness

A person's perception/response to not being well, including biologic, personal, interpersonal, & cultural reactions to disease.

Acute Illness

Rapid onset & short duration; usually self-limiting and responds to specific treatment.

Subacute Illness

Time course between acute & chronic; present for more than a few days but less than several months.

Chronic Illness

Characterized by permanent impairment or disability, residual physical or cognitive disability, and a need for rehabilitation and/or long-term medical management.

Incidence

Measurement of the number of new cases of a disease during a particular period of time; measures rate of occurrence and leads to probability of diagnosis.

Prevalence

Total number of cases of a disease in a population during a specific time period; indicates how widespread a disease has become and its impact, including both old and new cases.

Etiology

The cause(s) of a disease or condition.

Clinical Manifestations

Symptoms (subjective) and Signs (objective) of a disease.

Morbidity

Diseased state or symptom.

Premorbidity

State of function prior to disease.

Comorbidity

More than one disease at the same time.

Mortality

Death.

Mortality Rate

Number of deaths due to disease per total population, often categorized by age, sex, area, and type of disease.

Disability

Physical and/or cognitive condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities, including impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions (WHO definition).

Health Promotion

Built on self-responsibility, nutritional awareness, stress reduction and management, and physical fitness.

Disease Prevention

More cost-effective than treating disease; includes primary (removing risk factors), secondary (early detection), and tertiary (limiting impact) prevention.

Biomedical Model

Model stating that all illness is due to disease and physiologic processes; focuses on internal factors only, independent of psychologic, social, and spiritual influences.

Biopsychosocial Model

Model considering biologic, psychologic, and social variables as key factors in health and illness; mind and body are inseparable, and family/community/society influence health outcomes.

Epigenetics

Study of how behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way genes function, often based on the Social-Ecological Model of Health.