Functional Concept
etiology Audio
e·ti·ol·o·gy [ ee-tee-ah-loh-jee ]
Subclass of:
Epidemiologic Factors
Etymology:
Greek aitia = cause + logos = study or science
In other words the knowledge of the cause or origin of disease.
Definitions related to etiology:
  • The judgment of relatedness between an adverse event and an activity or observation result. Example(s): The observation result of "diabetes" is assessed to have caused the AE. The activity of administering a concomitant medication is assessed to have caused the AE. The activity of administering the study drug is assessed to have caused the AE.
    BRIDG Model Dictionary
    Biomedical Research Integrated Domain Group, 2019
  • (causality) The principle that a relationship exists between a primary entity A, or cause, and the occurrence of a secondary entity B, or effect.
    NCI Thesaurus
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • (causality) The relating of causes to the effects they produce. Causes are termed necessary when they must always precede an effect and sufficient when they initiate or produce an effect. Any of several factors may be associated with the potential disease causation or outcome, including predisposing factors, enabling factors, precipitating factors, reinforcing factors, and risk factors.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
  • (disease/disorder etiology) Process of identifying the cause of a particular disease or disorder.
    CRISP Thesaurus
    National Institutes of Health, 2006
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This content should not be used in place of medically-reviewed decision support reference material or professional medical advice. Some terms may have alternate or updated definitions not reflected in this set. The definitions on this page should not be considered complete or up to date.