Sparse
Sparse
Sparse (/spɑːrs/), from the Latin sparsus meaning scattered or dispersed, is a term often used in the medical field to describe a condition or characteristic that is thinly dispersed or scattered.
Definition
In a medical context, sparse is typically used to describe the distribution of certain physical characteristics or symptoms. For example, a patient may have sparse hair, meaning they have less hair than is typical, or a disease may have sparse symptoms, meaning the symptoms are not widespread or numerous.
Related Terms
- Alopecia: A condition that causes hair to fall out in small patches, which can be unnoticeable. These patches may connect, however, and then become noticeable. The condition develops when the immune system attacks the hair follicles, resulting in hair loss.
- Hypotrichosis: A condition characterized by the presence of less hair than normal on the body and scalp. Unlike alopecia, which describes hair loss where formerly there was hair growth, hypotrichosis describes a situation where there is little or no hair growth in an area that normally grows hair.
- Sparse distribution: A term used in statistics and in the medical field to describe a distribution in which a large portion of the possible values have a frequency of zero.
See Also
References
- Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012
- The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Sparse
- Wikipedia's article - Sparse
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