What sort of disease is a coma?

Multifactorial: Coma means unarousable unresponsiveness. It is caused by injury to both cerebral hemispheres or the central brain stem or both. The cause is either traumatic or non traumatic . Non traumatic causes are many - anoxic/ischemic, metabolic, endocrine, infectious, degenerative, etc. It is a clinical term with many disease types as cause.

Brain dysfunction: Coma is the term used to describe a person's level of consciousness, or awareness. It is not a disease itself. A coma state can be caused by injury, disease, chemicals, or temporary lack of oxygen or blood flow to the brain. If a person lost consciousness and did not "wake up", they would be described as being in a coma. A coma can be temporary or permanent, depending on the cause and severity.