cause

cause

in diseases, an agent, event, condition or characteristic which plays an essential role in producing an occurrence of the disease. Because there is nowadays much less certainty about what actually establishes a disease state it is becoming more common to use terms such as disease determinants, causal association, causal relationship. koch's postulates are no longer the sole criterion used in establishing causality.

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constitutional cause

an inherent characteristic of the patient. Usually a systemic defect, e.g. protoporphyria.

direct cause

there must be no known variable intervening between the suspect factor and the disease.

endogenous cause

the cause comes from within the patient. See also constitutional cause (above).

exogenous cause

the cause comes from outside the patient, e.g. a virus infection.

indirect cause

all causes other than the direct cause (see above).

host cause

see endogenous cause (above).

necessary cause

a factor which must be present to produce disease; the disease does not occur unless the factor was or is present.

precipitating cause

the trigger mechanism that initiates the commencement of the disease state.

predisposing cause

a mechanism that makes a patient more susceptible to the precipitating cause.

primary cause

the principal factor in causing the disease.

secondary cause

a factor that assists the primary cause. A cause of secondary importance.

specific cause

the single cause in a single cause-single disease relationship.

sufficient cause

a minimal set of conditions and events which inevitably produce disease.