Syndrome: Le Mot de Jour

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Abstract
Syndrome is one of the oldest terms in the medical vocabulary. It has been used as a designation for those disorders that were marked by etiologically nonspecific similar groups of manifestations up to the time of Sydenham. His contention that the terms syndrome and disease were in fact synonymous explains in part infrequent use of syndrome in the literature until the latter part of the 19th century. Redefinition of syndrome early in the 20th century as a disorder characterized by the concurrence of symptoms which are causally related, and further refinement of the definition as a condition marked by a cluster of symptoms occurring together coincidentally, gradually restored the popularity of the term to where syndrome is now one of the most frequently used designations of morbid states in the literature. There are numerous definitions of syndrome currently in use. One which is accepted by most dysmorphologists, geneticists, and some clinicians states that syndrome is an etiologically defined entity of unknown pathogenesis. However, most writers use the term randomly to denote any abnormal condition, whether medical, social, or behavioral, when a more satisfactory designation cannot be found or created, or to emphasize special complexity (syndromic qualities?) of already named diseases, or merely to be amusing. The post‐Sydenham custom of naming of syndromes after physicians gave way in the mid‐20th century to methods wherein syndrome names incorporate clinical, etiological, genetic, and other significant characteristics. Other methods used in designating syndromes include using the names of the first patient known to be affected, acronyms and abbreviations, personal names of all kinds, and the like. Syndrome, once a unique and valuable term in the arsenal of medical vocabulary, has lost much of its usefulness through misuse.

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