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Diagnosis and prognosis can be scary words—and confusing ones. But once you understand the difference, they can actually provide reassurance. That’s because one is an explanation of what exactly is wrong and one is a prediction of how things will turn out. In this article, we’ll examine the difference between a diagnosis and a prognosis in medicine as well as in general use. A prognosis is the likely outcome of a condition. It determines how likely you are to recover and predicts how your condition is likely to unfold over time. Since time is of the essence: diagnosis is used to identify a present disease, illness, problem, etc., by examination and observation (of signs and symptoms); prognosis refers to predicting the course of the diagnosed disease, illness, problem, etc., and determining treatment and outcome. If you come down with an illness, you might ask your doctor what your prognosis is. A prognosis is a prediction about the course of a disease.
