LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

The terms asymptomatic and subclinical are the same in the veterinary lexicon: a critical analysis.

Photo by joelfilip from unsplash

OBJECTIVE The term asymptomatic and its antonyms symptomatic and symptom apply exclusively to humans. However, veterinarians commonly use these terms instead of subclinical and clinical. We examined the use of… Click to show full abstract

OBJECTIVE The term asymptomatic and its antonyms symptomatic and symptom apply exclusively to humans. However, veterinarians commonly use these terms instead of subclinical and clinical. We examined the use of these terms to determine how, by whom, and in what context they are used. SAMPLE Veterinary articles on PubMed. PROCEDURES We searched PubMed for the terms asymptomatic, subclinical, and symptomatic within the title and abstract or as MeSH terms, restricting the search to veterinary (nonhuman) species, and downloaded and categorized each article based on species, topic, field of study, and presumed primary language of the authors. We noted whether the term appeared in the title or abstract or as a MeSH term and described the frequencies of use of these terms within each category. RESULTS The term asymptomatic appeared in 2,248 entries, mostly in the title or abstract. The term symptomatic appeared in 956 entries, also mostly in the title or abstract. Non-English-speaking authors used asymptomatic but not symptomatic relatively more frequently in the past decade. Certain fields of study, or disease specialties, used the terms more frequently; conversely, other fields of study, or specific journals, avoided the terms. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Authors of articles about animals use the term asymptomatic interchangeably with subclinical and symptomatic interchangeably with clinical. Distinct language cultures appear to exist within different veterinary fields. However, no ambiguity appears to exist with the use of these terms. Therefore, asymptomatic is the same as subclinical and symptomatic is the same as clinical in the veterinary lexicon. Both terms should be equally acceptable.

Keywords: terms asymptomatic; asymptomatic subclinical; title abstract; veterinary lexicon; term; use terms

Journal Title: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
Year Published: 2022

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.