Syndrome
Origin
New Latin, from Greek syndromē combination, syndrome, from syn- + dramein to run
Definitions
- 1: a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality or condition
- 2: a set of concurrent things (as emotions or actions) that usually form an identifiable pattern
Description
In medicine and psychology, a syndrome is the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs (observed by someone other than the patient), symptoms (reported by the patient), phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one or more features alerts the healthcare provider to the possible presence of the others. In recent decades, the term has been used outside medicine to refer to a combination of phenomena seen in association.
Some syndromes, such as Down syndrome, have only one cause; others, such as Parkinsonian syndrome, have multiple possible causes. In other cases, the cause of the syndrome is unknown.
The term syndrome derives from the Greek συνδρομή (sundromē) and means "concurrence of symptoms, concourse", from σύν (syn), "along with, together" + δρόμος (dromos), amongst others "course".
A familiar syndrome name often continues to be used even after an underlying cause has been found, or when there are a number of different primary causes that all give rise to the same combination of symptoms and signs. Many syndromes are named after the physicians credited with first reporting the association; these are "eponymous" syndromes (see also the list of eponymous diseases, many of which are called "syndromes"). Otherwise, disease features or presumed causes, as well as references to geography, history or poetry, can lend their names to syndromes. [1]
