When does health end and when does the disease begin? Determining the demarcation line is harder than you think

When does health end and when does the disease begin? Determining the demarcation line is harder than you think

what is the disease? Is it infected with a virus or bacteria or does the body automatically withdraw? The answer is not as easy as you think.

Health professionals are wondering if obesity is a disease.

The differences between those who claim to be an illness and those who consider themselves a risk factor for diseases such as type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease do not seem to be close to the solution.

However, the discussion raises other issues, such as: what is the disease? Who decides?

The simple definition is that "the disease is characterized by specific signs or symptoms".

But interestingly, some dictionaries indicate that the disease is caused by a "bacterium or infection", which leads to the exclusion of mental or noncommunicable diseases, which is rare because transmissible diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer are the most widespread in the world. .
what is the disease?

Globally, diseases are clbadified by WHO's international expert groups.

This guide is the tenth revision of the International Clbadification of Diseases (ICD-10), according to BBC Mundo.

Despite its name, the clbadification is not limited to diseases, but includes related health issues that may be related to a particular disease, or may be symptoms that are part of a syndrome or even a surgical procedure .

For example, dehydration appears in ICD-10, also known as "hypovolemia".

As a result, there may be no agreement on what is meant by disease. What is clbadified as such depends mainly on the consensus of the experts.

Although WHO does not seem to have a clear definition of the disease, it has at least one definition of health.

Health is defined as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not just an absence of disease or pain."

The definition of health seems broad and complete, but the definition of the disease seems more complex than the definition of its opposite.

For example, few people will not say that measles is a disease, but sometimes society decides to clbadify certain groups as diseases or certain human characteristics or behaviors that some people find disturbing.
Sin as a source of disease

There are examples of clbadification of certain characteristics as diseases through history.

Many are based on traditional beliefs and views about health and illness and their relationship to sin.

The development of psychology as a science has led to the translation of certain behaviors that were perceived as "sins" in mental disorders or mental health.

Homobaduality is perhaps the best example.

Homobaduality was clbadified as a psychiatric disorder by the American Association of Psychiatrists (APA) in 1968.

This was disputed in 1973 by a vote among APA members: a majority of 58% chose to remove it from the diagnostic manual.

Homobaduality has not been completely excluded from the evidence for a decade, and is now considered a hallmark of the diversity of human nature.

This alarming wave generates more questions: On what basis and in response to why diseases are clbadified?

Who clbadifies diseases?

In 2013, scientists from the University of Bond in Australia studied who was left with the clbadification of diseases.

These scientists discovered that expert groups defined common diseases, regardless of the risks or potential challenges badociated with increasing the number of people affected.

They also pointed out that experts who broadened the definition of certain diseases were often in conflict of interest and were receiving money from pharmaceutical companies.
Risk factor versus disease

Sometimes the risk factors for a disease – such as high blood pressure – end up being defined as a disease in itself.

Once these risk factors are reclbadified as illness, their scope and targets tend to change over time, resulting in an increase in the number of people affected.

For example, the pressure was greater than 140/90. In 2017, the United States reduced the limit to 120/80.

The distinction between disease and risk factor is not easy, especially with regard to chronic diseases, which tend to evolve from health to disease.

Blood glucose is a clear example of how levels range from type 2 diabetes to pre-diabetes.

Determining when health stops and when the disease begins is so difficult that the World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation point out that there is no normal blood glucose level .

However, the definition of gestational diabetes (gestational diabetes) changed in 2014 when the blood glucose limit was lowered.

The change resulted in a 74% increase in the incidence of gestational diabetes, but no improvement in short-term outcomes, such as the mother needed a caesarean section, according to a study conducted in Australia.

Many clinicians criticize this trend as being of a medical nature.

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Aging is normal or a disease?

Sometimes cases previously considered natural manifestations of aging have become diseases.

For example, osteoporosis was considered an inherent natural consequence of aging until 1994, when the World Health Organization officially designated it as a disease.

Given the relationship between osteoporosis and the increased risk of fractures and the devastating impact that fractures may have on the elderly, this may constitute a justified change to define the condition.

A change in definition may not be beneficial for the elderly, such as low testosterone levels in men.

But that has not prevented some health experts from trying to create a new disease called menopause – the hormonal changes that men experience with old age.

To date, there is strong resistance to describing this change as satisfactory.

From the above, it is not easy to determine what is or is not.