Historically, chronic disease referred to conditions lasting over a long period. But, with the increasing organization of medicine around specific diseases, the term has come to refer to an open-ended set of conditions including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes, but not infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria, or mental illness.
历史上，慢性病是指症状维持很长时期的状况。但是，随着围绕具体疾病的医学组织的增加，“慢性病”一词所指范围已没有边界，可以包括心血管病、癌症、糖尿病等，但不包括结核病和疟疾等传染病和精神疾病。