Mental or Behavioral Dysfunction
pica
pi·ca
Subclass of:
Signs and Symptoms, Digestive; Feeding and Eating Disorders
Definitions related to pica disease:
  • (pica) An appetite for and the persistent ingestion of non-food substances such as clay. In order to diagnose pica, this behavior must have persisted over a period of at least one month.
    Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO)
    The Human Phenotype Ontology Project, 2025
  • (pica) Desire for and/or consumption of non-food products.
    NICHD Pediatric Terminology
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • (pica) The persistent eating of non-nutritive substances for a period of at least one month.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
  • (pica eating disorder) An eating disorder characterized by the persistent eating of nonnutritive substances such as clay or soil; this behavior must be inappropriate to the level of the individual's development.
    NCI
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • Pica is persistent eating of nonnutritive, nonfood material for ?1 month when it is developmentally inappropriate (eg, pica is not diagnosed in children < 2 years) and when it is not part of a cultural tradition (eg, of folk medicine, religious rites, or common practice, such as ingestion of clay [kaolin] in the Georgia Piedmont).
    Merck Manuals
    Merck & Co., Inc., 2025
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