NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Chronic (medical)

In medicine, a chronic disease is a disease that is long-lasting or recurrent. The term chronic describes the course of the disease, or its rate of onset and development. A chronic course is distinguished from a recurrent course; recurrent diseases relapse repeatedly, with periods of remission in between. As an adjective, chronic can refer to a persistent and lasting medical condition. Chronicity is usually applied to a condition that lasts more than three months. Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... For the chemical substances known as medicines, see medication. ... This article is about the medical term. ... In Medicine, a course of medication is a period of continuous treatment with a drug, sometimes with variable dosage. ... In Medicine, a course of medication is a period of continuous treatment with a drug, sometimes with variable dosage. ... In mathematics, a recurrence relation, also known as a difference equation, is an equation which defines a sequence recursively: each term of the sequence is defined as a function of the preceding terms. ... A relapse (etymologically, who falls again) occurs when a person is affected again by a condition that affected them in the past. ... Remission is the state of absence of disease activity in patients with known chronic illness. ...

The definition of a disease or causative condition may depend on the disease being chronic, and the term chronic will often, but not always appear in the description:

Many chronic diseases require chronic care management for effective long-term treatment. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is one of several names given to a poorly understood, highly debilitating disorder of uncertain cause/causes, which is thought to affect approximately 4 per 1,000 adults[1] in the United States and other countries, and a smaller fraction of children. ... Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is traditionally considered a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints. ... Osteoarthritis (OA, also known as degenerative arthritis, degenerative joint disease), is a condition in which low-grade inflammation results in pain in the joints, caused by abnormal wearing of the cartilage that covers and acts as a cushion inside joints and destruction or decrease of synovial fluid that lubricates those... For COPD occurring in horses, see recurrent airway obstruction. ... Chronic renal failure (CRF, or chronic kidney failure, CKF, or chronic kidney disease, CKD) is a slowly progressive loss of renal function over a period of months or years and defined as an abnormally low glomerular filtration rate, which is usually determined indirectly by the creatinine level in blood serum. ... For the disease characterized by excretion of large amounts of very dilute urine, see diabetes insipidus. ... Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE or lupus) is a chronic autoimmune disease that can be fatal, though with recent medical advances, fatalities are becoming increasingly rare. ... Some steps an individual can take to reduce the risk of cardivascular disease include: Not smoking Maintaining a healthy body mass index Maintaining a diet conducive to cardovascular health, for example the polymeal Getting regular cardiovascular exercise Diet a low energy diet Exercise aerobic exercise, which will increase the strength... Cerebrovascular disease is damage to the blood vessels in the brain, resulting in a stroke. ... Osteoporosis is a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture. ...

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