Hi Simon.
I heard a beautiful sentence about this matter: "the diagnosis (..) is only
a mental resting place for prognostic considerations and therapeutic
decisions".
(Wulff HR. Rational diagnosis and treatment. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific
Publications, 2nd Editions. 1981: 80, cited in: Alessandro Liberati, A.
Addis, Luciana Ballini, Marco Bobbio, Massimo Brunetti, and Vittorio Caimi.
Etica, conoscenza e sanità. Evidence-based medicine fra ragione e passione,
Roma:Il Pensiero Scientifico, 2005)
I have long thought about this fascinating question.
I came to the conclusion that substantially diagnosis and prognosis have in
deep the same meaning.
Academically you can say that diagnosis is a wider concept and encompasses
symptoms, signs and test results, while prognosis is limited to how and how
long will be the life of the patient; so it is somewhat a part of diagnosis.
But for a patient's perspective to have a diagnosis is actually to have a
prognosis if no intervention is made and you let natural history go on.
Simply in clinical practice prognosis is often placed in a following time
than diagnosis.
Kind regrds
dott. Federico Barbani
Healthcare Purchasing Unit
Health Authority Modena
via San Giovanni del Cantone 23
41100 MODENA, Italy
tel 059/435813 - 435731
-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Evidence based health (EBH)
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] Per conto di Steve Simon
Inviato: venerd́ 20 febbraio 2009 20.21
A: [log in to unmask]
Oggetto: Basic question about diagnostic versus prognostic studies
Maybe this is a stupid question, but here goes.
What is the difference between a diagnostic study and a prognostic
study? Is it that diagnostic study examines one of more factors that can
help identify an already existing condition whereas a prognostic study
examines one of more factors that can predict a future condition? Is it
that diagnosis is targeted towards something bad (disease) while
prognosis is targeted towards something good (recovery)? Or is it
something else?
--
Steve Simon, Standard Disclaimer.
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