predisease
nounEtymology From pre- + disease.
1
Medicine, Sciences 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).
- 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.2011, Anthony J. Viera, “Predisease: when does it make sense?”, in Epidemiologic Reviews, volume 33, number 1, →DOI, →PMID, pages 122–134:
- 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.2010, Michiel Korthals, Genomics, Obesity and the Struggle over Responsibilities: