[1][2] A prognosis is made on the basis of the normal course of the diagnosed disease, the individual's physical and mental condition, the available treatments, and additional factors.
[5] Studies have found that most doctors are overly optimistic when making a prognosis; they tend to overstate how long a patient might live.
[6] Knowing the prognosis helps determine whether it makes more sense to attempt certain treatments or to withhold them, and thus plays an important role in end-of-life decisions and advanced care planning.
This work opens with the following statement: "It appears to me a most excellent thing for the physician to cultivate Prognosis; for by foreseeing and foretelling, in the presence of the sick, the present, the past, and the future, and explaining the omissions which patients have been guilty of, he will be the more readily believed to be acquainted with the circumstances of the sick; so that men will have confidence to intrust themselves to such a physician.
[citation needed] Signs and symptomsSyndromeDisease Medical diagnosisDifferential diagnosisPrognosis AcuteChronicCure Eponymous diseaseAcronym or abbreviationRemission