Cure

A cure is a substance or procedure that resolves a medical condition. This may include a medication, a surgical operation, a lifestyle change, or even a philosophical shift that alleviates a person's suffering or achieves a state of healing. The medical condition can be a disease, mental illness, genetic disorder, or a condition considered socially undesirable, such as baldness or insufficient breast tissue.

An incurable disease is not necessarily a terminal illness, and conversely, a curable illness can still be fatal.

The cure fraction or cure rate—the proportion of people with a disease who are cured by a given treatment—is determined by comparing disease-free survival in treated individuals against a matched control group without the disease.^[1]

Another method for determining the cure fraction and/or "cure time" involves measuring when the hazard rate in a diseased group returns to the hazard rate observed in the general population.^[2][3]

The concept of a cure inherently implies the permanent resolution of a specific instance of a disease.^[4][5] For example, a person who recovers from the common cold is considered cured, even though they may contract another cold in the future. Conversely, a person who effectively manages a disease like diabetes mellitus to prevent undesirable symptoms without permanently eliminating it is not considered cured.

Related concepts with potentially differing meanings include response, remission, and recovery.