| mental illness | A broadly inclusive term, generally denoting one or all of the following: 1) a disease of the brain, with predominant behavioural symptoms, as in paresis or acute alcoholism; 2) a disease of the "mind" or personality, evidenced by abnormal behaviour, as in hysteria or schizophrenia; also called mental or emotional disease, disturbance, or disorder, or behaviour disorder, any psychiatric illness listed in Current Medical Information and Terminology of the American Medical Association or in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association. See: behaviour disorder. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| chronic illness | An illness that has persisted for a long period of time. It is a continuing disease process. (12 Dec 1998) |
| cost of illness | The personal cost of acute or chronic disease. The cost to the patient may be an economic, social, or psychological cost or loss to himself, his family, or community. The cost of illness may be reflected in absenteeism, productivity, response to treatment, peace of mind, quality of life, etc. It differs from health care costs in that this concept is restricted to the cost of providing services related to the delivery of health care rather than an impact on the personal life of the patient. (12 Dec 1998) |
| critical illness | A disease or state in which death is possible or imminent. (12 Dec 1998) |
| critical illness polyneuropathy | A diffuse axon loss sensorimotor polyneuropathy seen in severely ill patients, usually in the intensive care unit; most patients have been on multiple drugs, and cannot be weaned from ventilatory support; electrodiagnostic studies show evidence of an axon loss polyneuropathy, predominantly motor; of unknown aetiology. (05 Mar 2000) |
| heat illness | A general term which describes three forms of heat related injury: heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heatstroke. (27 Sep 1997) |
| psychosomatic illness | The mind influences the body to create or exacerbate illness. (12 Dec 1998) |
| severity of illness index | Levels of severity of illness within a diagnostic group which are established by various measurement criteria. (12 Dec 1998) |
| decompression illness | <physiology> Also called the bends, this multisystem disorder results when nitrogen bubbles form within the bloodstream and interrupt tissue oxygenation. (27 Sep 1997) |
| illness | 1. The condition of being ill, evil, or bad; badness; unfavorableness. "The illness of the weather." 2. Disease; indisposition; malady; disorder of health; sickness; as, a short or a severe illness. 3. Wrong moral conduct; wickedness. Within the present century, there has been a tendency in England to use illness in the sense of a continuous disease, disorder of health, or sickness, and to confine sickness more especially to a sense of nausea, or "sickness of the stomach." Synonym: Malady, disease, indisposition, ailment. Origin: From Ill. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| illness, acute | An illness with an abrupt onset and usually a short course. (12 Dec 1998) |
| illness, chronic | An illness that has persisted for a long period of time. It is a continuing disease process. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental illness | A polysymptomatic condition believed by clinical ecologists to result from immune dysregulation induced by common foods, allergens, and chemicals, resulting in various physical and mental disorders. The medical community has remained largely skeptical of the existence of this "disease", given the plethora of symptoms attributed to environmental illness, the lack of reproducible laboratory abnormalities, and the use of unproven therapies to treat the condition. (12 Dec 1998) |
| functional illness | A physical disorder with no known or detectable organic basis to explain the symptoms. See: behaviour disorder, neurosis. Synonym: dynamic disease, functional disease, functional illness. (05 Mar 2000) |
| blood pressure, high | High blood pressure (hypertension) is a repeatedly elevated blood pressure exceeding 140 over 90 mmHg. High blood pressure is also called the silent killer. Chronically high blood pressure can cause blood vessel changes in the back of the eye (retina), thickening of the heart muscle, kidney failure, and brain damage. No specific cause for high blood pressure is found in 95% of patients. High blood pressure is treated with salt restriction, regular aerobic exercise, and medications. (12 Dec 1998) |