Diagnosis vs. Prognosis

Main Difference

The main difference between Diagnosis and Prognosis is that the Diagnosis is a result of medical diagnostics and Prognosis is a medical term for predicting the likely outcome of one’s current standing.

• Diagnosis

  Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience to determine “cause and effect”. In systems engineering and computer science, it is typically used to determine the causes of symptoms, mitigations, and solutions.

• Prognosis

  Prognosis (Greek: πρόγνωσις “fore-knowing, foreseeing”) is a medical term for predicting the likelihood of a person’s survival. When applied to large statistical populations, prognostic estimates can be very accurate: for example the statement “45% of patients with severe septic shock will die within 28 days” can be made with some confidence, because previous research found that this proportion of patients died. This statistical information does not apply to the prognosis for each individual patient: additional information is needed to determine whether a patient belongs to the 45% who will die, or to the 55% who survive.

  A complete prognosis includes the expected duration, function, and description of the course of the disease, such as progressive decline, intermittent crisis, or sudden, unpredictable crisis.