syndemic | Meaning & Origin

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The biological factors that contribute to a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">can be </span><a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/communicable" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">communicable </span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">(can be spread to others) or </span><a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/noncommunicable" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">noncommunicable</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (can’t be spread to others) in nature. <em>Syndemic</em> is increasingly used in the context of sociological and economic factors that contribute to syndemics.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2020, the term </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">saw mainstream attention after the scientific journal </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lancet</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> repeatedly used the term in reference to the <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID-19</a> virus. </span></p> </div> </div> <div class="atw-socials"> <ul> <li> <a href="https://facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dictionary.com%2Fe%2Ftech-science%2Fsyndemic%2F" target="_blank" data-linkid="begyaa"> <i class="fa fa-facebook" aria-hidden="true"></i> </a> </li> <li> <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?text=syndemic&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dictionary.com%2Fe%2Ftech-science%2Fsyndemic%2F" target="_blank" data-linkid="agbu2i"> <i class="fa fa-twitter" aria-hidden="true"></i> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="article-word__row article-word__row--transparent article-word__row--flex"> <div class="ad ad-atw-hot-mobile atw-mobile-ad" id="ad-wrapper-atw-hot-mobile"> </div> <script> var adWrappers = document.getElementsByClassName('ad-atw-hot-mobile'); var getAdWrapper = () => { if (adWrappers.length === 1) { return adWrappers[0]; } else { for (adWrapper of adWrappers) { var childNodes = adWrapper.children; if (childNodes.length === 0) { var grandParentNode = adWrapper.parentNode.parentNode; var isVisibleNode = !(grandParentNode.style.display === 'none') if (isVisibleNode) { return adWrapper; } } } } } var adWrapper = getAdWrapper() if (adWrapper) { var adUnit = document.createElement('div'); if (isSovrn) { adUnit.classList.add('dictionary_right_rail_300x250_flex_2'); adUnit.setAttribute('data-text', 'Sovrn Advertisement'); adWrapper.appendChild(adUnit); var hasWindow = typeof window !== 'undefined'; var hasProperBuildSlots = hasWindow && typeof window.properBuildSlots !== 'undefined'; if (hasProperBuildSlots) { window.properBuildSlots(); }; } else { adUnit.id = 'crb-ad-slot-atw-hot-mobile' adUnit.setAttribute('data-text', 'GPT Advertisement'); var adContainer = document.createElement('div'); adContainer.classList.add("ad__container"); if ("") { adContainer.classList.add(""); } adContainer.id = "crb-ad-container-atw-hot-mobile"; adContainer.setAttribute('data-text', 'GPT Advertisement'); var adContainerInner = document.createElement('div'); adContainerInner.classList.add('ad__container-inner'); adContainerInner.id = "crb-ad-container-inner-atw-hot-mobile"; adContainerInner.setAttribute('data-text', 'GPT Advertisement'); adWrapper.appendChild(adUnit); adContainerInner.appendChild(adUnit); adContainer.appendChild(adContainerInner); adWrapper.appendChild(adContainer); } } </script> <div class="article-word__related-words"> <h2 class="article-word__row-title">Related words</h2> <a data-linkid="uqagl6" href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/tech-science/twindemic/">twindemic</a>, <a data-linkid="uqagl6" href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/tech-science/chadox1-ncov-19/">ChAdOx1 nCoV-19</a>, <a data-linkid="uqagl6" href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/infodemic/">infodemic</a>, <a data-linkid="uqagl6" href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/tech-science/long-hauler/">long-hauler</a></div> </div> <div class="article-word__row" id="origin"> <div class="article-word__origin"> <h2 class="article-word__row-title"> Where does syndemic come from? </h2> <div class="article-word__origin-content"> <div class="examples__item left"> <div class="examples__item__wrapper"> <div class="examples__item__content" style="height: auto;"> <span><img width="300" height="300" src="https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-300x300.png" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-300x300.png 300w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-150x150.png 150w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-768x768.png 768w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-83x83.png 83w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-160x160.png 160w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-380x380.png 380w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-500x500.png 500w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-700x700.png 700w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800-1080x1080.png 1080w, https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/syndemic_800x800.png 1601w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></span> </div> <div class="examples__item__description"> </div> </div> </div> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The term </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">was created by medical <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/anthropologist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anthropologist</a> Merrill Singer in the early 1990s. As early as 1994, Singer put forth the term when examining how the <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/aids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AIDS</a> virus disproportionately impacted poor people living in urban areas. He argued that the AIDS health crisis was more than an <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">epidemic</a> and that many interrelated factors were working together to worsen the intensity and damage of the AIDS crisis. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Specifically, Singer cited higher rates of infant <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/mortality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mortality</a>, malnutrition, diabetes, tuberculosis, and STDs among the urban population. Singer argued that these factors were interconnected and combined together to make the AIDS crisis much worse than it otherwise would have been. In response, he suggested the term </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">to describe this situation.<br /> The word <em>syndemic </em>is a blend of </span><a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/syn" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>syn-</em></span></a>,<span style="font-weight: 400;"> meaning “together,” and –<em>demic</em>, as in epidemic or <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pandemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pandemic</a>. <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/infodemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Infodemic</em></a> is similarly formed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The simplest example of a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">is when two diseases synergize to make each other worse. In this way, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">is used as a larger scale version of the term </span><a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/comorbidity" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">comorbidity</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. A commonly cited example of a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">is the interaction between HIV and tuberculosis. While one is caused by a bacteria and the other a virus, having one of these diseases makes a person much more susceptible to the other. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Obviously, HIV weakens the immune system and so makes a person more vulnerable to any disease-causing <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pathogen#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pathogens</a>. While the effect of tuberculosis on HIV is less clear, there is evidence that tuberculosis infections cause the HIV virus to replicate faster. As you can see, these two diseases are interrelated in that the presence of one is indirectly helping the success of the other. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Over the next several decades, the term </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">would be used by Singer and other scholars to analyze interrelated factors that contributed to other medical emergencies. Often, a scholar examines a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">with an interest in the social or economic factors that contribute to a population’s increased incidence of disease(s). That is, while <em>syndemic</em> specifically refers to health effects, Singer and other sociologists/anthropologists would often be more interested in the causes of the <em>syndemics</em>, which were usually due to factors such as poverty and racism. For example, as a medical anthropologist, Singer </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">argued that the urban poor’s increased rates of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and substandard nutrition contributed to the increased rate of epidemic and <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/endemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endemic</a> factors that made AIDS a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2020, the scientific journal </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lancet </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">repeatedly used the term </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">in scientific articles focused on the COVID-19 virus. The term had repeatedly been used in </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lancet </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">for years, sometimes incorrectly, according to Singer. In particular, an article in </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lancet </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">used the term </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">to describe the higher rate of COVID-19 outbreaks in the United States due to “political failures” and other nonmedical factors. </span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lancet’s </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">use of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">would catch the attention of mainstream publications such as </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Forbes </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Financial Times</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which analyzed the effects of economics on the spread of COVID-19. </span></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ad ad-atw-origin-mobile atw-mobile-ad" id="ad-wrapper-atw-origin-mobile"> </div> <script> var adWrappers = document.getElementsByClassName('ad-atw-origin-mobile'); var getAdWrapper = () => { if (adWrappers.length === 1) { return adWrappers[0]; } else { for (adWrapper of adWrappers) { var childNodes = adWrapper.children; if (childNodes.length === 0) { var grandParentNode = adWrapper.parentNode.parentNode; var isVisibleNode = !(grandParentNode.style.display === 'none') if (isVisibleNode) { return adWrapper; } } } } } var adWrapper = getAdWrapper() if (adWrapper) { var adUnit = document.createElement('div'); if (isSovrn) { adUnit.classList.add('dictionary_right_rail_300x250_flex_2'); adUnit.setAttribute('data-text', 'Sovrn Advertisement'); adWrapper.appendChild(adUnit); var hasWindow = typeof window !== 'undefined'; var hasProperBuildSlots = hasWindow && typeof window.properBuildSlots !== 'undefined'; if (hasProperBuildSlots) { window.properBuildSlots(); }; } else { adUnit.id = 'crb-ad-slot-atw-origin-mobile' adUnit.setAttribute('data-text', 'GPT Advertisement'); var adContainer = document.createElement('div'); adContainer.classList.add("ad__container"); if ("") { adContainer.classList.add(""); } adContainer.id = "crb-ad-container-atw-origin-mobile"; adContainer.setAttribute('data-text', 'GPT Advertisement'); var adContainerInner = document.createElement('div'); adContainerInner.classList.add('ad__container-inner'); adContainerInner.id = "crb-ad-container-inner-atw-origin-mobile"; adContainerInner.setAttribute('data-text', 'GPT Advertisement'); adWrapper.appendChild(adUnit); adContainerInner.appendChild(adUnit); adContainer.appendChild(adContainerInner); adWrapper.appendChild(adContainer); } } </script> <div class="article-word__row" id="examples"> <div class="article-word__examples"> <h2 class="article-word__row-title"> Examples of syndemic </h2> <div class="article-word__examples-list"> <div class="examples__item"> <div class="examples__item__wrapper"> <div class="examples__item__content text" style="border: 2px solid #92d6ff;"> <span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Have a hunch that 'syndemic' will be one of the words of the year 2020. #progress</span></span> </div> <div class="examples__item__description"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">@KristofDecoste1, October 13, 2020</span> </div> </div> </div> <div class="examples__item"> <div class="examples__item__wrapper"> <div class="examples__item__content text" style="border: 2px solid #92d6ff;"> <span><span style="font-weight: 400;">“COVID-19 is an acute-on-chronic health emergency,” said Richard Horton, the <em>Lancet</em>’s editor-in-chief. He described the coronavirus pandemic combined with high global rates of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases as a “syndemic.”</span></span> </div> <div class="examples__item__description"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Kate Kelland, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Reuters</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, October 15, 2020</span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="article-word__row" id="usage"> <div class="article-word__usage"> <h2 class="article-word__row-title"> Who uses syndemic? </h2> <div class="usage__content clear"> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Syndemic </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">is used by such professionals as scientists, public health experts, and journalists.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Coronavirus + (coming) influenza virus in the context of health and social inequality, air pollution, and a criminal administration, makings for a sinister syndemic.</p> <p>— Merrill Singer (@MerrillSinger11) <a href="https://twitter.com/MerrillSinger11/status/1275926670147571713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2020</a></p></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/themes/dictionary-com/js/build/bundle-theme-twitter-embeds.js"></script></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr">The world is caught in “syndemic” as high global rates of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases has enflamed the COVID-19 death toll <a href="https://t.co/TNwg2qEkOw">https://t.co/TNwg2qEkOw</a> <a href="https://t.co/87SZnnhYCy">pic.twitter.com/87SZnnhYCy</a></p> <p>— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1317129476787097601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2020</a></p></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/themes/dictionary-com/js/build/bundle-theme-twitter-embeds.js"></script></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Poverty?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Poverty</a> causes poor health, poor health causes poverty. That <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/syndemic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#syndemic</a> forms the core of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/healthdisparities?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#healthdisparities</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/socialdeterminants?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#socialdeterminants</a></p> <p>— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) <a href="https://twitter.com/AbdulElSayed/status/763057536823996416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2016</a></p></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/themes/dictionary-com/js/build/bundle-theme-twitter-embeds.js"></script></p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ad ad-atw-usage-mobile atw-mobile-ad" id="ad-wrapper-atw-usage-mobile"> </div> <script> var adWrappers = document.getElementsByClassName('ad-atw-usage-mobile'); var getAdWrapper = () => { if (adWrappers.length === 1) { return adWrappers[0]; } else { for (adWrapper of adWrappers) { var childNodes = adWrapper.children; 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