non-responder
/ˌnɒn.rɪˈspɒn.dər/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌnɑːn.rɪˈspɑːn.dɚ/ (ame, ipa)
non-responder — noun
1. a sick person whose condition does not get better after being given a particular
a sick person whose condition does not get better after being given a particular medical treatment, such as a drug or therapy.
About one in five chemotherapy patients turn out to be non-responders, so Dr. Hamza tried a different drug on Felipe.
noun phrase: turn out to be non-responders
Researchers at the Taipei clinic are studying why some asthma patients become non-responders to inhaled steroids.
collocation: non-responders to [treatment]
Lakshmi was classed as a non-responder after three months of antidepressants brought no change in her mood.
Doctors switched Obi's medication once the lab tests confirmed he was a non-responder to the first antibiotic.
The hospital keeps a register of non-responders so future trials can recruit them as a separate group.
- treatment-resistant patient
longer descriptive phrase; emphasises that the body is actively resisting
- refractory patient
more technical medical register; common in oncology and psychiatry
- responder
patient whose condition improves with the treatment
文法句型
a non-responder to [treatment]
用法筆記
Frequently appears in clinical trial reports and medical journals; the noun is typically paired with the preposition 'to' plus a treatment, drug, or therapy name.
常見錯誤
2. someone who has been asked for information, usually in a survey or questionnaire
someone who has been asked for information, usually in a survey or questionnaire, but does not reply.
Out of 800 households in Christopher's survey, roughly 200 turned out to be non-responders.
collocation: turned out to be non-responders
Ada sent reminder emails to every non-responder on the customer-feedback list.
noun phrase as object: reminder emails to every non-responder
To reduce bias, the research team phoned a sample of non-responders and asked them the same questions.
Jessica noted that older participants were less likely to be non-responders than people in their twenties.
Xiu's report compared the income levels of non-responders with those of the people who returned the form.
- non-respondent
preferred term in formal statistics and survey methodology textbooks
- non-participant
broader; covers people who never agreed to take part, not just those who failed to reply
- respondent
person who answers the survey
文法句型
a non-responder to [survey / message]
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1 (medical context): this sense applies to survey, polling, and questionnaire methodology. The 'request for information' here is a written or spoken question, not a medical treatment.