In medicine, prognosis is a prediction made by a doctor.
Prognosis is the professional's hypothesis regarding the development of a disease. The knowledge provided by science allows the doctor to anticipate what symptoms the patient will have and estimate the probabilities of recovery along with its time frame.
In Greek is where we find the etymological origin of the term prognosis , which can be translated as “anticipated knowledge of some fact.” Specifically, it is the result of the sum of two clearly differentiated parts:
- The prefix pro- , which is synonymous with “forward” .
- The noun gnosis , which is equivalent to “knowledge” .
In the field of medicine , in this way, the prognosis can be associated with a prognosis or a prediction .
Development of the prognosis
The doctor develops the prognosis based on clinical analyses . These studies make it possible to know what illness the person suffers from and, based on experiences with other patients suffering from the same illness, predict what the individual's health status will be like in the future.
In addition to all of the above, it must be taken into account that the communication from the doctor to the patient regarding the prognosis of the disease they have can be carried out in two different ways:
- From a qualitative point of view, it will cause you to use terms such as mild , moderate or serious .
- From a quantitative point of view, which will force you to resort to the use of percentages of cases, percentages related to the symptoms and also statistics related to the cases of success or failure that exist with respect to that pathology.
The concept linked to various disorders
Prognosis also exists, for example, in matters of alcoholism . Thus, medical professionals who treat a patient with this addiction and who observe their symptoms, such as tachycardia, cramps or tremors, can tell them what will happen to them if they continue depending on that drug.
Specifically, it will inform you that if you do not remedy it you may suffer from insomnia to depression, bleeding esophageal varicose veins, cardiomyopathies, erection dysfunctions or liver cirrhosis.
But there is still more. You may also suffer from neuropathies, increased blood pressure, increased risk of suicide, increased possibility of suffering from cancer...
Meteorological forecasting arises from the analysis of the conditions of the atmosphere.
Weather forecast
For meteorology , prognosis is the prediction made of climatic conditions . Thanks to various scientific and technological tools, meteorologists can anticipate what the atmospheric state will be in the immediate future of a certain city.
In this way, the meteorological forecast allows us to predict whether a location will have sunshine or whether there will be rainfall; whether the humidity level will be high or low; what the temperature will be like during the day; etc
In the aforementioned cases of medicine and meteorology, prognosis is carried out through science . However, it is possible to associate the notion of prognosis with supernatural or esoteric issues . In these contexts, prognosis consists of anticipating the future based on supposed divine signs or divinatory powers.