Prognostisuus

Prognostisuus is a noun that denotes the capacity or practice of foreseeing likely outcomes. In clinical use it is closely aligned with prognosis, referring to the anticipated course and outcome of a disease or condition. The term emphasizes the predictive aspect, rather than treatment itself.

In medicine, prognostisuus relies on data from patient characteristics, disease features, lab results, imaging, and coexisting conditions. Clinicians may use prognostic models and risk scores to estimate survival, progression, or response to therapy, and to stratify patients for interventions or monitoring. Common tools include survival analysis, time-to-event models, and validated scoring systems. The aim is to inform patients and guide decisions, while recognizing uncertainty.

In other fields prognostisuus can describe the predictive power of models in weather, economics, engineering, or epidemiology. The concept is evaluated through discrimination, calibration, external validation, and calibration plots, and is subject to limitations such as sample bias and changing conditions.

Ethical considerations accompany prognostisuus; communicating uncertainty, avoiding overpromise, and ensuring informed consent are central. Critics note that prognostic estimates can influence behavior and resource allocation, potentially leading to self-fulfilling prophecies.

From Greek prognōsis, foreknowledge. See also: prognosis, prognostication, predictive analytics, risk assessment.