Systemic disease

In medicine, a systemic disease is a disease that is not limited to a single organ or anatomically clearly definable structure, but affects several organs, tissues or functional systems of the organism simultaneously or sequentially, which are linked by common pathophysiological mechanisms.

A disease is considered a systemic disease if at least one of the following criteria is met:

• Multi-organ disease affecting several anatomically or functionally different organs or a superordinate system (e.g. vascular system, immune system, connective tissue, metabolism)
• Underlying primary systemic pathogenesis e.g. acquired or genetic autoimmunity (systemic lupus erythematosus), systemic vasculitis, metabolic dysregulation (e.g. BMyloidosis), genetic defect (e.g. Fabry disease, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, etc.), acquired systemic infections (HIV infection, syphilis, tuberculosis)
• Detection of systemic biomarkers e.g. autoantibodies, cytokine profiles, inflammatory signatures in the blood

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