A chronic condition is a human health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects or a disease that advances over time.
The term chronic is often applied when the course of
the disease lasts for more than three months.
A chronic course is further distinguished from a recurrent course; recurrent diseases relapse repeatedly, with periods of remission in between.
A chronic condition may be noncommunicable (such as COPD) or a transmissible disease (such as HIV/AIDS).
Chronic conditions have often been used to describe the various health-related states of the human body, such as syndromes, physical impairments, and disabilities as well as diseases.
Some socioeconomic factors may be considered as a chronic condition as they lead to disability in daily life. Public health officials in the social science setting have begun describing two conditions as chronic: chronic poverty and chronic racism.
In 2015 the World Health Organization produced a report on Non-Communicable Diseases, citing the four major types as:
- cardiovascular diseases (including cerebrovascular disease, heart failure, ischemic cardiopathy)
- cancers
- chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD]) and asthma)
- diabetes mellitus
Other examples of chronic diseases and health conditions include:
- Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases
- addiction
- autoimmune diseases, such as ulcerative colitis, lupus erythematosus, Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, and Relapsing polychondritis
- blindness
- myalgic encephalomyelitis
- chronic hepatitis
- cerebral palsy (all types)
- chronic pain syndromes
- chronic osteoarticular diseases: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis
- chronic renal failure, chronic kidney disease
- chronic respiratory diseases
- deafness and hearing impairment
- hypertension
- fibromyalgia
- epilepsy
- mental illness
- osteoporosis
- periodontal disease
- sickle cell anemia and other hemoglobin disorders
- transplant recipients on immunosuppression
- Lyme disease
- blood pressure abnormalities
- sleep apnea
- postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
- multiple sclerosis
Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Internet. Accessed on June 14, 2016.