Editing Syndrome

{{Short description|Association of several clinically recognizable features}}
{{Other uses}}
A '''syndrome''' is a set of medical [[signs and symptoms]] which are correlated with each other and often associated with a particular [[disease]] or disorder.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The British Medical Association Illustrated Medical Dictionary|date=2002|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|isbn=9780751333831|location=London|pages=177, 536|oclc=51643555}}</ref> The word derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] σύνδρομον, meaning "concurrence".<ref name=Dorland>{{Cite book|title=Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary|date=2012|publisher= Saunders/Elsevier|isbn=9781416062578|edition= 32nd |location=Philadelphia, PA|oclc=706780870}}</ref>{{rp|1818}} When a syndrome is paired with a definite cause this becomes a disease.<ref name=Calvo>{{cite journal |last1=Calvo |first1=F |last2=Karras |first2=BT |last3=Phillips |first3=R |last4=Kimball |first4=AM |last5=Wolf |first5=F |title=Diagnoses, Syndromes, and Diseases: A Knowledge Representation Problem |journal=AMIA Annu Symp Proc |date=2003 |volume=2003 |pages=802 |pmid=14728307 |pmc=1480257}}</ref> In some instances, a syndrome is so closely linked with a [[pathogenesis]] or cause that [[disease#Terminology|the words ''syndrome'', ''disease'', and ''disorder'']] end up being used interchangeably for them. This substitution of terminology often confuses the reality and meaning of medical diagnoses.<ref name=Calvo/> This is especially true of [[heredity|inherited]] syndromes. About one third of all [[phenotype]]s that are listed in [[Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man|OMIM]] are described as dysmorphic, which usually refers to the facial gestalt. For example, [[Down syndrome]], [[Wolf–Hirschhorn syndrome]], and [[Andersen–Tawil syndrome]] are disorders with known pathogeneses, so each is more than just a set of signs and symptoms, despite the ''syndrome'' nomenclature. In other instances, a syndrome is not specific to only one disease. For example, [[toxic shock syndrome]] can be caused by various toxins; another medical syndrome named as premotor syndrome can be caused by various brain lesions; and [[premenstrual syndrome]] is not a disease but simply a set of symptoms.

If an underlying [[genetics|genetic]] cause is suspected but not known, a condition may be referred to as a [[genetic association]] (often just "association" in context). By definition, an association indicates that the collection of signs and symptoms occurs in combination [[correlation|more frequently than would be likely by chance alone]].<ref name=Dorland/>{{rp|167}}

Syndromes are often named after the physician or group of physicians that discovered them or initially described the full clinical picture. Such [[eponym]]ous syndrome names are examples of [[medical eponym]]s. Recently, there has been a shift towards naming conditions descriptively (by symptoms or underlying cause) rather than eponymously, but the eponymous syndrome names often persist in common usage.

The defining of syndromes has sometimes been termed syndromology, but it is usually not a separate discipline from [[nosology]] and [[differential diagnosis]] generally, which inherently involve pattern recognition (both [[pattern recognition (psychology)|sentient]] and [[pattern recognition|automated]]) and differentiation among overlapping sets of signs and symptoms. [[Teratology|Teratology (dysmorphology)]] by its nature involves the defining of congenital syndromes that may include [[birth defect]]s (pathoanatomy), dysmetabolism (pathophysiology), and [[neurodevelopmental disorder]]s.

== Subsyndromal ==
When there are a number of symptoms suggesting a particular disease or condition but does not meet the defined criteria used to make a diagnosis of that disease or condition. This can be a bit subjective because it is ultimately up to the clinician to make the diagnosis. This could be because it has not advanced to the level or passed a threshold or just similar symptoms cause by other issues. Subclinical is synonymous since one of its definitions is "where some criteria are met but not enough to achieve clinical status";<ref>{{Cite web|title=subclinical - Wiktionary|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/subclinical#English|access-date=2021-01-29|website=en.wiktionary.org}}</ref> but [[subclinical]] is not always interchangeable since it can also mean "not detectable or producing effects that are not detectable by the usual clinical tests";<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of Subclinical|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subclinical|access-date=2021-01-29|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref> i.e., asymptomatic.

==Usage==

===General medicine===
In medicine, a broad definition of syndrome is used, which describes a collection of symptoms and findings without necessarily tying them to a single identifiable pathogenesis. Examples of infectious syndromes include [[encephalitis]] and [[hepatitis]], which can both have several different infectious causes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Slack |first1=R. C. B. |editor1-last=Greenwood |editor1-first=D. |editor2-last=Barer |editor2-first=M. |editor3-last=Slack |editor3-first=R. |editor4-last=Irving |editor4-first=W. |title=Medical Microbiology |date=2012 |publisher=Churchill Livingstone |isbn=978-0-7020-4089-4 |pages=678–688 |edition=18th |chapter-url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780702040894000792 |language=en |chapter=Infective syndromes}}</ref> The more specific definition employed in [[medical genetics]] describes a subset of all medical syndromes.{{cn|date=December 2021}}

====History====
Early texts by physicians noted the symptoms of various maladies and introduced diagnoses based upon those symptoms. For example, [[Avicenna]]'s ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'' (1025) describes diagnosing [[pleurisy]] by its symptoms, including chronic fever, cough, shooting pains, and labored breathing.<ref>Lenn Evan Goodman (2003), ''Islamic Humanism'', p. 155, [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|0-19-513580-6}}.</ref> The 17th century doctor [[Thomas Sydenham]] likewise approached diagnoses based upon collections of symptoms.<ref name="isbn0-300-07401-8">{{Cite book |author=Natelson, Benjamin H. |title=Facing and fighting fatigue: a practical approach |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Conn |year=1998 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/facingfightingfa00nate/page/30 30] |isbn=0-300-07401-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/facingfightingfa00nate/page/30 }}</ref>

===Psychiatry and psychopathology===
Psychiatric syndromes often called ''psychopathological syndromes'' ([[psychopathology]] refers both to psychic dysfunctions occurring in [[mental disorders]], and the study of the origin, diagnosis, development, and treatment of mental disorders).{{cn|date=December 2021}}

In [[Russia]] those psychopathological syndromes are used in modern clinical practice and described in psychiatric literature in the details: [[Weakness|asthenic syndrome]], [[Obsessive–compulsive disorder|obsessive syndrome]], [[Mood disorder|emotional syndromes]] (for example, [[Mania|manic syndrome]], depressive syndrome), [[Cotard delusion|Cotard's syndrome]], [[Catatonia|catatonic syndrome]], hebephrenic syndrome, [[delusion]]al and [[Hallucination|hallucinatory]] syndromes (for example, paranoid syndrome, paranoid-hallucinatory syndrome, [[Victor Kandinsky|Kandinsky]]-[[Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault|Clérambault's]] syndrome also known as syndrome of psychic automatism, hallucinosis), [[Paraphrenia|paraphrenic syndrome]], [[Personality disorders|psychopathic syndromes]] (includes all personality disorders), [[clouding of consciousness]] syndromes (for example, twilight clouding of consciousness, amential syndrome also known as amentia, [[Delirium|delirious syndrome]], stunned consciousness syndrome, [[oneiroid syndrome]]), hysteric syndrome, [[Neurosis|neurotic syndrome]], [[Korsakoff's syndrome]], [[Hypochondriasis|hypochondriacal syndrome]], paranoiac syndrome, senestopathic syndrome, [[Encephalopathy|encephalopathic syndrome]].<ref name="NationalManual">{{cite book |last1=Дмитриева |first1=Т. Б. |last2=Краснов |first2=В. Н. |last3=Незнанов |first3=Н. Г. |last4=Семке |first4= В. Я. |last5=Тиганов |first5=А. С. |date=2011 |title=Психиатрия: Национальное руководство |trans-title=Psychiatry: The National Manual |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZI45wX9GCcC |language=ru |location=[[Moscow]] |publisher=ГЭОТАР-Медиа |isbn=978-5-9704-2030-0 |pages=306–330}}</ref><ref name="Smetannikov">{{cite book |last=Сметанников |first=П. Г. |date=1995 |title=Психиатрия: Краткое руководство для врачей |trans-title=Psychiatry: A Brief Guide for Physicians |language=ru |location=[[Saint Petersburg]] |publisher=СПбМАПО |isbn=5-85077-025-9 |pages=86–119}}</ref>

Some examples of psychopathological syndromes used in modern Germany are [[psychoorganic syndrome]], depressive syndrome, paranoid-hallucinatory syndrome, [[Obsessive–compulsive disorder|obsessive-compulsive syndrome]], autonomic syndrome, hostility syndrome, [[Mania|manic syndrome]], [[Apathy|apathy syndrome]].<ref>{{cite book |author=P. Pichot |title=Clinical Psychopathology Nomenclature and Classification |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MvkHCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 |date=2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4899-5049-9 |pages=157}}</ref>

[[Factitious disorder imposed on self|Münchausen syndrome]], [[Ganser syndrome]], [[neuroleptic-induced deficit syndrome]], [[olfactory reference syndrome]] are also well-known.{{cn|date=December 2021}}

====History====
The most important psychopathological syndromes were classified into three groups ranked in order of severity by German psychiatrist [[Emil Kraepelin]] (1856—1926). The first group, which includes the mild disorders, consists of five syndromes: emotional, paranoid, [[Hysteria|hysterical]], [[Delirium|delirious]], and impulsive.<ref name="KraepelinForms">{{cite journal |last=Cole |first=S. J. |title=The Forms in which Insanity Expresses Itself [Die Erscheinungsformen des Irreseins]. (Arb. für Psychiat., München, Bd. ii, 1921.) Kraepelin, Emil |journal=The British Journal of Psychiatry |publisher=Royal College of Psychiatrists |volume=68 |issue=282 |date=1922 |issn=0007-1250 |doi=10.1192/bjp.68.282.295 |pages=296|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448724 }}</ref> The second, intermediate, group includes two syndromes: [[Schizophrenia|schizophrenic]] syndrome and [[Auditory hallucination|speech-hallucinatory syndrome]].<ref name="KraepelinForms"/> The third includes the most severe disorders, and consists of three syndromes: [[Epilepsy|epileptic]], [[Intellectual disability|oligophrenic]] and [[dementia]].<ref name="KraepelinForms"/> In Kraepelin's era, epilepsy was viewed as a mental illness; [[Karl Jaspers]] also considered "genuine epilepsy" a "[[psychosis]]", and described "the three major psychoses" as schizophrenia, epilepsy, and [[Bipolar disorder|manic-depressive illness]].<ref name="Jaspers-DSM">{{cite journal |author=Ghaemi S. N. |title=Nosologomania: DSM & Karl Jaspers' critique of Kraepelin. |journal=Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine |year=2009 |volume=4 |pages=10 |pmid=19627606 |doi=10.1186/1747-5341-4-10 |pmc=2724409 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Medical genetics===
In the field of medical genetics, the term "syndrome" is traditionally only used when the underlying genetic cause is known. Thus, [[trisomy 21]] is commonly known as Down syndrome.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

Until 2005, [[CHARGE syndrome]] was most frequently referred to as "CHARGE association". When the major causative gene (''[[CHD7]]'') for the condition was discovered, the name was changed.<ref name="chd7omim">{{cite web|title=#214800 - CHARGE Syndrome | url = http://www.omim.org/entry/214800 | publisher = Johns Hopkins University | access-date = 2014-02-15}}</ref> The consensus underlying cause of [[VACTERL association]] has not been determined, and thus it is not commonly referred to as a "syndrome".<ref name="vacterlomim">{{cite web|title=#192350 - VATER Association | url = http://www.omim.org/entry/192350 | publisher = Johns Hopkins University | access-date = 2014-02-15}}</ref>

===Other fields===
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In biology, "syndrome" is used in a more general sense to describe characteristic sets of features in various contexts. Examples include [[behavioral syndrome]]s, as well as [[pollination syndrome]]s and [[seed dispersal syndrome]]s.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

In orbital mechanics and astronomy, [[Kessler syndrome]] refers to the effect where the density of objects in [[low Earth orbit]] (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates [[space debris]] that increases the likelihood of further collisions.<ref name="Kessler78">{{cite journal |last1=Kessler |first1=Donald J. |last2=Cour-Palais |first2=Burton G. |year=1978 |title=Collision Frequency of Artificial Satellites: The Creation of a Debris Belt |url=http://webpages.charter.net/dkessler/files/Collision%20Frequency.pdf |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |volume=83 |issue=A6 |pages=2637–2646 |bibcode=1978JGR....83.2637K |doi=10.1029/JA083iA06p02637 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515132446/http://webpages.charter.net/dkessler/files/Collision%20Frequency.pdf |archive-date=2011-05-15}}</ref>

In [[quantum error correction]] theory syndromes correspond to errors in code words which are determined with syndrome measurements, which only collapse the state on an error state, so that the error can be corrected without affecting the quantum information stored in the code words.

==Naming==
There is no set common convention for the naming of newly identified syndromes. In the past, syndromes were often named after the physician or scientist who identified and described the condition in an initial publication. These are referred to as "eponymous syndromes". In some cases, diseases are named after the patient who initially presents with symptoms,<ref name=mim>{{cite book|title=Mendelian Inheritance in Man | author=McCusick, Victor | edition = 7th | location = Baltimore | pages = xxiii–xxv | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | year = 1986}}</ref> or their home town ([[Stockholm syndrome]]). There have been isolated cases of patients being eager to have their syndromes named after them, while their physicians are hesitant.<ref name=adam>{{Cite journal | pmid = 14994249| year = 2004| last1 = Teebi| first1 = A. S.| title = Naming of a syndrome: The story of "Adam Wright" syndrome| journal = American Journal of Medical Genetics| volume = 125A| issue = 3| pages = 329–30| doi = 10.1002/ajmg.a.20460| s2cid = 8439955}}</ref> When a syndrome is named after a person, there is some difference of opinion as to whether it should take the [[English possessive|possessive]] form or not (e.g. [[Down syndrome]] vs. Down's syndrome). North American usage has tended to favor the non-possessive form, while European references often use the possessive.<ref name=possessive>{{Cite journal | pmid = 19272131| year = 2009| last1 = Jana| first1 = N| title = Current use of medical eponyms--a need for global uniformity in scientific publications| journal = BMC Medical Research Methodology| volume = 9| pages = 18| last2 = Barik| first2 = S| last3 = Arora| first3 = N| doi = 10.1186/1471-2288-9-18| pmc = 2667526| doi-access = free}}</ref> A 2009 study demonstrated a trend away from the possessive form in Europe in medical literature from 1970 through 2008.<ref name=possessive />

==Underlying cause==
Even in syndromes with no known [[etiology]], the presence of the associated symptoms with a statistically improbable correlation normally leads the researchers to hypothesize that there exists an unknown underlying cause for all the described symptoms.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

==See also==
* [[List of syndromes]]
* [[Toxidrome]]
* [[Symptom]]
* [[Sequence (medicine)]]
* [[Characteristics of syndromic ASD conditions]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|syndrome}}
* [http://www.whonamedit.com Whonamedit.com] - a repository of medical eponyms

{{Medical terms to describe disease conditions}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Syndromes| ]]
[[Category:Medical terminology]]