decompensation

American  

[dee-kom-puhn-sey-shuhn] / ˌdi kɒm pənˈseɪ ʃən /

noun

1. Medicine/Medical. the inability of a diseased heart to compensate for its defect.

2. Psychology. a loss of ability to maintain normal or appropriate psychological defenses, sometimes resulting in depression, anxiety, or delusions.

---

decompensation British  

/ diːˌkɒmpɛnˈseɪʃən /

noun

1. pathol inability of an organ, esp the heart, to maintain its function due to overload caused by a disease

---

Etymology

Origin of decompensation

First recorded in 1900–05; de- + compensation

Example Sentences

Medical science now knows that many people living with long-term conditions such as heart, lung and liver diseases are tipped into decompensation and death by the coronavirus.

From Washington Post • Jan. 19, 2023

This experience taught me that my son’s medical care for schizophrenic decompensation is not a priority call.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 4, 2022

“But what we’re ultimately worried about is heart decompensation and dangerous arrhythmias.”

From Scientific American • Dec. 2, 2021

As a result, the source said, the patient was “undergoing a quiet decompensation where he just gets sicker and sicker.”

From The New Yorker • May 2, 2016

The terminal condition in most of the patients in this group is cardiac decompensation.

From Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension: with Chapters on Blood Pressure, 3rd Edition. by Warfield, Louis Marshall