Syndrome

A recognizable group of signs and symptoms which indicate a specific condition for which a direct cause is not understood

Authors

Affiliations

Nate Yomogida, PT, DPT

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.S. in Kinesiology

Chloë Kerstein, PT, DPT

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.A. in Neuroscience

Literal meaning

Greek syn- (together) and -dromus (a course) can be taken literally as “running together” or “concurrence”

We can apply this to a medical syndrome and define it as certain signs and symptoms that run together as a clinical presentation

Definition

Syndrome: A recognizable group of signs and symptoms which indicate a specific condition for which a direct cause is not understood¹

Syndrome Vs Disease

Although some use the terms “Syndrome” and “Disease” interchangeably, these are not interchangeable.

Syndrome can be seen as a state of deterioration, while a disease is a process of deterioration.

Although this appears to be inconsequential differences, a state is a snapshot in time while a process by definition needs a start, middle, and end.

Start	Middle	End
Etiology	Pathogenesis	Signs & Symptoms

A process by definition needs a start, middle, and end

Start	Middle	End
Etiology	Pathogenesis	Signs & Symptoms

	Etiology	Pathogenesis	Signs & Symptoms
Syndrome	Unknown	Unknown	✓
Disease	✓	✓	✓

Treatment

Since a syndrome outlines a clinical presentation without a mechanism, its treatment plan focuses on managing signs and symptoms²

A disease specifies the mechanism of disorder, the treatment can effect the underlying mechanism²

Examples

Viral Syndrome

Physicians use “viral syndrome” when they are uncertain which specific viral agent is causing the illness¹

Once the specific viral agent is identifed, it should be labeled as “_____ disease”¹

Kawasaki Syndrome → Disease

When there was limited knowledge about Kawasaki Disease, the clinical signs and symptoms were referred to as “Kawasaki Syndrome”¹.

As understanding progressed and its etiology, pathogenesis, and clinical presentation were clearly defined, it was then upgraded to “Kawasaki Disease”¹

References

References

1.

Calvo F, Karras BT, Phillips R, Kimball AM, Wolf F. Diagnoses, syndromes, and diseases: A knowledge representation problem. AMIA Annual Symposium proceedings AMIA Symposium. 2003;2003:802.

2.

Lenka A, Louis ED. Do We Belittle Essential Tremor by Calling It a Syndrome Rather Than a Disease? Yes. Frontiers in Neurology. 2020;11:522687. doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.522687