Deterioration is a term now commonly used in health care, to describe worsening of a patient's condition. It is often used as a shortened form of 'deterioration not recognised or not acted upon'. Much work to reduce harm from deterioration has been undertaken by the National Patient Safety Agency.
Deterioration, from Latin deteriorare "to make worse", from deterior "lower, worse", may refer to:

• Physical wear
  Wear
  In materials science, wear is erosion or sideways displacement of material from its "derivative" and original position on a solid surface performed by the action of another surface....
  
  
• Degeneration
  Degeneration
  The idea of degeneration had significant influence on science, art and politics from the 1850s to the 1950s. The social theory developed consequently from Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution...
  
  
• Genetic deterioration

See also

• Degeneracy (disambiguation)
• Deteriorata
  Deteriorata
  Deteriorata is a famous parody of San Francisco radio and television personality Les Crane's spoken word recording of Desiderata. It was written by Tony Hendra. It was recorded by National Lampoon as part of their National Lampoon Radio Dinner album of 1972...
  
  , parody and portmanteau of "Desiderata" and "deteriorate"
• Deter (disambiguation)