Table 1.

Descriptions of chronic disease and chronic illness

TERM	DEFINITION
Chronic disease	Chronic disease has various definitions: “long in duration—often with a long latency period and protracted clinical course; of multi-factorial aetiology; with no definite cure; gradual changes over time, asynchronous evolution and heterogeneity in population susceptibility.”4
	Diseases referred to as chronic include both non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, and depression, and communicable diseases, such as AIDS.
	Chronic disease refers to a diagnosis categorized in the biomedical system according to etiology, pathophysiology, signs, symptoms, and treatment that also implies an expected long duration and lack of cure.4 Conditions, syndromes, and disorders are similar, but are less well-defined.4
Chronic illness	Chronic illness refers to the lived experience of long-term bodily or health disturbance,5 whether related to a communicable or non-communicable disease, condition, syndrome, or disorder; and how people live and cope with the disruption. It is “experience of intrusive bodily or mental unwelcome unpleasant sensations” and includes phenomena such as fatigue, weakness, anomie, confusion, or social stigma.6