既往含む

English translation: even if now recovered

12:00 Jul 2, 2020
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Medical - Medical: Pharmaceuticals / Study protocol
Japanese term or phrase: 既往含む
I have found this expression in the exclusion criteria of a study protocol. The full sentence (slightly modified for confidentiality) is as follows.

治療開始前の4週間以内に抗生物質の静脈内投与又は入院を要する感染症を有する(既往含む)

What does 既往 mean here? If it means "a history (of infection)" in general, does it not contradict the part specifying that infection occurred in the four weeks leading up to treatment?

Thanks in advance!
Luca Balestra
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:30
English translation:even if now recovered
Explanation:
The rest of the sentence could be translated in this way:

"In the 4 weeks prior to the start of treatment, the patient has had an infectious disease requiring either the intravenous administration of antibiotics or hospitalization"

If 既往 is being used here in a strictly medical sense, then it would have to be short for either 既往症 (which grammatically would seem to be most likely here) or 既往歴. Both of these would mean "including past conditions". Translated into English this way, it would certainly sound strange in the context, as you indicate.

Outside of medicine, however, 既往 is often used simply as a synonym for "過去", and it is used much more flexibly in Japanese than "in the past" is used in English. That is, 既往 does not need to refer only to the far past, but can refer to anything that has ceased to be true before the current, present moment.

If 既往 is being used here in that way, then I think that the parenthetical expression would mean "including cases in which the patient is now fully recovered". That is, the author would be saying that it doesn't matter how well the patient is right now; if he/she required an antibiotics IV or hospitalization anytime within the prior 4 weeks, then he/she cannot take part.

Note that the sentence is written in the present tense (有する) rather than either the past tense or "有したことがある". Perhaps the present tense was used here to maintain consistency with the other exclusion criteria, but using it to refer to a 4-week span of time makes it difficult to refer to something that existed but disappeared during that time. So the use of "有する" could be the result of bureaucratic rigidity, and the use of "既往含む" could be a bureaucratically inept attempt to try to fix the problem with "有する".
Selected response from:

Mark Pleas
Japan
Local time: 20:30
Grading comment
Hello Mark, thank you so much for your input. That was my sense of what 既往 might mean as well, and I have decided to go with a translation similar to yours, omitting a direct translation of 既往.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3even if now recovered
Mark Pleas


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
even if now recovered


Explanation:
The rest of the sentence could be translated in this way:

"In the 4 weeks prior to the start of treatment, the patient has had an infectious disease requiring either the intravenous administration of antibiotics or hospitalization"

If 既往 is being used here in a strictly medical sense, then it would have to be short for either 既往症 (which grammatically would seem to be most likely here) or 既往歴. Both of these would mean "including past conditions". Translated into English this way, it would certainly sound strange in the context, as you indicate.

Outside of medicine, however, 既往 is often used simply as a synonym for "過去", and it is used much more flexibly in Japanese than "in the past" is used in English. That is, 既往 does not need to refer only to the far past, but can refer to anything that has ceased to be true before the current, present moment.

If 既往 is being used here in that way, then I think that the parenthetical expression would mean "including cases in which the patient is now fully recovered". That is, the author would be saying that it doesn't matter how well the patient is right now; if he/she required an antibiotics IV or hospitalization anytime within the prior 4 weeks, then he/she cannot take part.

Note that the sentence is written in the present tense (有する) rather than either the past tense or "有したことがある". Perhaps the present tense was used here to maintain consistency with the other exclusion criteria, but using it to refer to a 4-week span of time makes it difficult to refer to something that existed but disappeared during that time. So the use of "有する" could be the result of bureaucratic rigidity, and the use of "既往含む" could be a bureaucratically inept attempt to try to fix the problem with "有する".


    https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASDG29H3R_Z20C17A9000000/
    https://www.mlit.go.jp/jutakukentiku/house/koukohou/image.pdf
Mark Pleas
Japan
Local time: 20:30
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Hello Mark, thank you so much for your input. That was my sense of what 既往 might mean as well, and I have decided to go with a translation similar to yours, omitting a direct translation of 既往.
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