Guide to medical syntax

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Many words that are used interchangeably in common language take on different meanings when used in the context of medicine. This guide serves to highlight words that are commonly found on WikiDoc to be used incorrectly and to provide more appropriate alternatives. Like all aspects of WikiDoc, this page should be updated as more examples are found.

Words Mistakenly Interchanged

Incidence vs. Prevalence

Both incidence and prevalence are often used to mean the same thing in common language. In medicine, however, they have two distinct meanings. The definition of each term, as well as an example of each, is provided below.

Term	Definition	Example
Incidence	The rate of occurrence or influence. Especially, the rate of occurrence of new cases of a particular disease in a population being studied
Prevalence	The percentage of a population that is affected with a particular disease at a given time

Trial vs. Study

Use of the word trial versus study / analysis: Results of randomized observations can be referred to as a “trial”. Results of non-randomized observations should be referred to as studies or analyses.

Term	Definition	Example
Study	A careful examination or analysis of a phenomenon, development, or question.
Trial	A study in which the subjects are randomly distributed into groups which are either subjected to the experimental procedure (as use of a drug) or which serve as controls

Words to Find and Replace

Do Not Use	Do Use	Notes
Predictor	Associated With	The term "predictor" should only be used when there is a validation cohort and the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value are also presented.
Any word that implies causality, such as impacted, influenced or caused	Associated with	Often there is only data to support a correlation between two phenomena. However, correlation does not imply causation. The language we use on WikiDoc should not falsely present the research of others.
After	Following
Given, used or received	Administered
In	Among
Seen	Observed
Shown	Demonstrated
Felt to be	Hypothesized or speculated to be
Thrombolytic	Fibrinolytic	Do not use the wording, "following fibrinolysis," as fibrinolysis implies successful clot resolution. Instead, use the wording, "follpwing fribinolytic administration."