Prognosis

A prognosis is a forecast of the likely course and outcome of a disease, based on clinical findings, patient characteristics, and available evidence.

Diagnosis: The identification of a disease or condition from signs, symptoms, and test results. A diagnosis establishes which disease’s course is being estimated.
Prognostic factor: A patient or disease characteristic associated with an outcome, regardless of a particular treatment. These characteristics supply evidence for estimating the likely course.
Cancer staging: The classification of cancer by its extent in the body, commonly using TNM criteria. Cancer stage is widely used to estimate outcomes and guide treatment planning.
Prediction: A statement about an unknown future or unobserved outcome, based on evidence or assumptions. Prognosis is a medical form of prediction focused on disease course and outcome.
Disease staging: The classification of a disease’s extent or severity, often using standardized criteria. Stage can indicate how far a disease has progressed and inform its likely course.
Survival analysis: Statistical methods for analyzing time until an event, while accounting for incomplete follow-up. It estimates outcome timing when some patients have not yet experienced the event.
Cancer survival rates: Population statistics describing the proportion of people with cancer alive after a specified period. These rates communicate group-level outcomes but do not determine an individual’s future.
Predictive biomarker: A biological measure that indicates the likelihood of response to a particular treatment. Unlike general prognosis, it concerns outcomes conditional on a treatment.
Risk factor: A characteristic or exposure associated with a higher or lower probability of a health outcome. Risk factors help distinguish likely outcomes among people with the same diagnosis.
Kaplan–Meier estimator: A nonparametric estimator of survival probability over time from observed event and censoring data. It produces survival curves commonly used to describe prognosis.

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