Constitutional symptom

What it means

A symptom or manifestation indicating a systemic or general effect of a disease and that may affect the general well-being or status of an individual.

Note that we use the preferred term label constitutional symptom because this reflects common usage, but we do not restrict the term or its descendents to the narrow meaning of symptom, i.e., a complaint related by a patient to a physician. There is no generally accepted classification of what defines a constitutional symptom, but examples include weight loss, fatigue, general weakness, night sweats, shaking, chills, fever, and vomiting.

Rare diseases that can present with this9

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category