Difference Between Disease, Disorder, and Syndrome

Understanding Disease, Disorder, and Syndrome: Key Medical Terms Explained

When defining a health issue, people often confuse the terms disease, disorder and syndrome. They often wonder why one is known as a disease while the other is a syndrome. However, there are distinct reasons why this happens. These three medical terms define three different types of issues. Let us know how they are different.

Key Differences: Disease vs Disorder vs Syndrome

The key differences between syndrome, disease and disorder are as follows:

From the above table, we can understand that these health terms are interconnected. However, they have different meanings. Let us understand them in detail.

What is a Disease?

Normally, our bodies function in tandem with all organs to maintain physical and chemical balance. This phenomenon is known as homeostasis. However, when a deviation from the normal process occurs, with a specific set of signs and symptoms, it is called a disease. People who study diseases are known as pathologists, and the field is called pathology.

What are the Types of Diseases?

There are different types of diseases. They are usually caused by various factors such as pathogens, the environment or others. The types are:

• Communicable and non-communicable diseases
• Degenerative diseases
• Deficiency diseases
• Allergies

Examples of diseases include cholera, diabetes, plague and chickenpox.

What is a Disorder?

As the word suggests, a disorder refers to a set of problems disrupting the normal functioning of your body. It could affect both your physical and mental health. Generally, disorders are functional abnormalities that may exist independently.

What are the Types of Disorder? 

There can be two types of disorders: physical and mental. Throughout history, mental disorders have been ignored. However, in recent times, awareness regarding mental disorders is increasing. Let us see some examples below.

Examples of physical disorders:

• Epilepsy
• Muscular dystrophy
• Cerebral palsy
• Arthritis

Examples of mental disorders:

• Personality disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Eating disorder

What is a Syndrome?

The syndrome refers to signs and symptoms that point towards a disease. It often defines diseases where the symptoms are not consistent. For example, in irritable bowel syndrome, some people may experience diarrhoea, while others may only experience slight belly irritation.

The symptoms of a syndrome are often unrelated. Most syndromes are named after the doctor who first discovered them. For example, Down syndrome is named after Dr. Down.

What are the types of Syndrome?

Doctors classify syndromes as follows:

• Infectious syndrome
• Genetic syndrome
• Psychopathological syndrome

Examples of infectious syndromes are Alpha-gal syndrome and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Down syndrome, Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome and Angelman syndrome are examples of genetic syndromes. An example of a psychopathological syndrome is Diogenes syndrome.

Knowing the differences between diseases, disorders, and syndromes is crucial to understanding and acknowledging health conditions.