Natural history of disease
Encyclopedia
The natural history of disease refers to a description of the uninterrupted progression of a disease
in an individual from the moment of exposure to causal agents until recovery or death. Knowledge of the natural history of disease ranks alongside causal understanding in importance for disease prevention and control. Natural history of disease is one of the major elements of descriptive epidemiology
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The iceberg phenomenon is a metaphor emphasizing that for virtually every health problem the number of known cases of disease is outweighed by those that remain undiscovered, much as the unseen part of an iceberg is much larger than the part that is visible above the water. The iceberg phenomenon thwarts attempts to assess the burden of disease and the need for services, as well as the selection of representative cases for study. This leads to what has been called the "clinician’s fallacy" in which an inaccurate view of the nature and causes of a disease results from studying the minority of cases of the disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
in an individual from the moment of exposure to causal agents until recovery or death. Knowledge of the natural history of disease ranks alongside causal understanding in importance for disease prevention and control. Natural history of disease is one of the major elements of descriptive epidemiology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
.
The iceberg phenomenon is a metaphor emphasizing that for virtually every health problem the number of known cases of disease is outweighed by those that remain undiscovered, much as the unseen part of an iceberg is much larger than the part that is visible above the water. The iceberg phenomenon thwarts attempts to assess the burden of disease and the need for services, as well as the selection of representative cases for study. This leads to what has been called the "clinician’s fallacy" in which an inaccurate view of the nature and causes of a disease results from studying the minority of cases of the disease