etiologic

Etiologic is an adjective relating to etiology, the study of the causes or origins of diseases and other conditions. It describes factors, agents, or processes that cause a condition, or that are responsible for its development. The term derives from Greek etiology ("cause") and -logia ("study of"). In medicine and biology, etiologic is used for etiologic agents, such as pathogens, and for etiologic factors, including genetic, environmental, infectious, and behavioral influences. The adjective can modify diagnoses, classifications, or research questions that aim to identify underlying causes.

Etiology is distinguished from pathogenesis. Etiology concerns the initial cause or set of causes, whereas pathogenesis describes the biological mechanism by which a cause leads to disease. For example, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the etiologic agent of tuberculosis; obesity and genetic predisposition contribute etiologic factors to type 2 diabetes. Some conditions have idiopathic etiologies, meaning their cause is unknown; others are iatrogenic or congenital.

In epidemiology and public health, etiologic classification helps organize diseases by their underlying causes (infectious, genetic, environmental, multifactorial). Etiologic research seeks to identify causal relationships and often involves criteria for causality, as well as experimental and observational studies and consideration of confounding factors.