Cooccurrence Versus Syndemism
Disease cooccurrence, with or without interactions, is known as comorbidity, coinfection and associated terms. The differences between "comorbid" and "syndemic" are not merely semantic. As Mustanski et al. (2008:40) explain: "comorbidity research tends to focus on the nosological issues of boundaries and overlap of diagnoses, while syndemic research focuses on communities experiencing co-occurring epidemics that additively increase negative health consequences." Consequently, it is possible for two afflictions to be comorbid, but not be syndemic (i.e., the disorders are not epidemic in the studied population or their co-occurrence is not accompanied by worsened health). Thus, two (or more) diseases can be comorbid but no interaction occurs between them, while in other cases interaction occurs but it has beneficial rather than deleterious consequences. Syndemic theory seeks to draw attention to and provide a framework for the analysis of adverse disease interactions, including their causes and consequences for human life and well-being.
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