Rules of style in medical writing

Factual Questions
1

I’m at work, don’t have my style books.

What’s the consensus re: capitalization of medical terms, specifically diseases?

Down syndrome
dermatitis herpetiformis
Celiac disease
diabetes

All capitalized? Just the proper names like Down? If the S in Down Syndrome were to be capitalized, what about the D in Celiac disease?

Is Constipation capitalized? Nausea?

This is for a PowerPoint presentation to be given to Gastroenterologists.

2

Only proper nouns are capitalized, just like the real world. Inidentally, it is Down’s syndrome, not Down syndrome. Hence: celiac disesse.

In the same vein, generic (or chemical) names of drugs are not capitalized, while the product name is.

A tougher q. is whether the disease’s name gets an apostrophe and an “s” at the end. It is Alzheimer’s disease, since it is named after the discoverer. But it is Wenckebach periodicity when it is named after the person who had it (I think).

3

Actually, incidentally, it is Down syndrome, without the apostrophe-s.

And does your post, barbiu8, reflect your opinion, or are these rules of style that you’re familiar with from a reliable source?

Thanks.

4
5

The Merck Manual gives Down’s syndrome. Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary gives: Down’s disease, syndrome. You can check any other medical book, and I believe they all give Down’s syndrome. why do you think it’s Down syndfome?

anyway, this is on the office computer, and I’m going home now.

6

Sorry, link is broken (yay! CGI!). From the National Down Syndrome Society’s web page:

7

I have friends who have a daughter with DS. They are rather adamant that it is “Down syndrome”.

Tinker

8

My Merck manual says Down, not Down’s. So does the on-line version. Maybe barbitu8 has a different edition, though.

As for the OP: yes, there are specific rules about when to cap and when not to, but I’m not sure enough to say (I think you have it right - when it’s a proper name, you capitalize the word signifying the person the disease is named after but not the word “disease” or “syndrome.”) I am fairly certain that things like constipation or diabetes are not capitalized, however. I guess I’m not much help.

9

I’m a medical secretary (well, just a transcriptionist at the moment, formerly a secretary, soon to be a secretary again), so hopefully, I would know these things…

You only capitalize if it’s a proper name, and “disease” is not capitalized.

Oddly enough, I have no idea why, but I always have to stop myself from capitalizing the “h” in hepatitis A, B, and C. Never when I type just “hepatitis,” though. It gets annoying, since I type “hepatitis” approx. 4 billion times a day.

Ah well, the Hepatobiliary Clinic beats the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic any day.

10

I misspoke on the 's in Down syndrome. My books here in the office are at least 10 years old. I recall now that some time ago, the 's was dropped for the reason I stated in my prior post, although I think I had it reversed.

However, I did give you the proper capitalization rules: the same as usual. That wasn’t just my opinion. I work with a lot of medical in my work, although I’m not in any way associated with the medical profession, and have a ton of medical books - unfortunately, all of them old. I do have more recent references in the office computer, but I was in a hurry to go home yesterday and did not bother to check the latest.