predisease

See also: pre-disease

English

Alternative forms

• pre-disease

Etymology

pre- +‎ disease

Adjective

predisease (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to a predisease (such as prediabetes or prehypertension), as with predisease states or predisease stage.
2. Before a disease began, as with predisease cognitive performance as a baseline in dementia or predisease motor function as a baseline in multiple sclerosis.

Noun

predisease (plural prediseases)

1. (medicine) A condition, albeit consisting of only one or two signs, that is identifiable as, or believed to be, a subclinical prelude to a disease, with greatly increased predisposition thereto (for example, prediabetes or prehypertension); the operational definition of such a state or the clinical value of asserting it may be contentious (as with purported preobesity).
   • 2011, Anthony J. Viera, “Predisease: when does it make sense?”, in Epidemiologic Reviews, volume 33, number 1, →DOI, →PMID, pages 122–134:

     When the goal of preventing adverse health outcomes is kept in mind, this review poses the idea that "predisease" as a category on which to act makes sense only if the following 3 conditions are met. First, the people designated as having predisease must be far more likely to develop disease than those not so designated. Second, there must be a feasible intervention that, when targeted to people with predisease, effectively reduces the likelihood of developing disease. Third, the benefits of intervening on predisease must outweigh the harms in the population.

   • 2010, Michiel Korthals, Genomics, Obesity and the Struggle over Responsibilities‎^[1]:

     Nowadays, it suggests more of a kind of 'proto-professionalization': the internalization of professional attitudes towards one's own body and acting as a kind of 'proto-professional' in cases of the treatment of a predisease.