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131 Medical Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated For 2024)
- Statins are medications given to patients who have high levels of lipids in their blood, otherwise known by what "good or bad" C-name?
Answer: Cholesterol
- Glycogen is the main way the body stores glucose—better known by what sweet common name?
Answer: Sugar
- Which medical term comes from the Greek word for “without breathing” and is included in the name of a condition where a person experiences brief pauses in breathing while they’re asleep?
Answer: apnea
- Mefloquine is a drug taken by travelers to equatorial regions to prevent infection by parasites of the Plasmodium genus. Despite side effects that can include dizziness, tinnitus, nightmares, and even hallucinations, this drug is very effective in preventing what disease that can also be prevented through consistent use of mosquito nets?
Answer: malaria
- Wilma Rudolph was an American medalist in Track and Field at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics, an especially impressive feat considering her childhood was plagued by infantile paralysis caused by what virus?
Answer: Polio
- What is the medical term for a sideways curvature of the spine which most commonly occurs in young adults during a growth spurt?
Answer: Scoliosis
- With a student body of fewer than 300, the smallest school at Harvard University awards DMD degrees to students in what specialty of medicine?
Answer: Dental Medicine
- Sildenafil is the generic name for a “little blue” drug that relaxes smooth muscle and allows for increased blood flow in body tissues. What is the more commonly known trade name of this drug?
Answer: Viagra
- Thomas Hodgkin was an 1800s British physician, and his name is most commonly associated with what type of cancer today?
Answer: Lymphoma
- What two colors are prominently featured on the flag of the city of Philadelphia? These colors were chosen in commemoration of the city's prior Swedish governance.
Answer: Blue, yellow
- Alzheimer's disease is the most common diagnosis of what broad category of brain diseases that cause a long-term and often gradual decrease in the ability to think and remember?
Answer: Dementia
- The varicella-zoster virus causes skin outbreaks in children, and in 1995 the FDA approved a vaccine to prevents its infection. What's the common name for the disease this virus causes?
Answer: Chicken pox
- Common examples include ginger, chewing gum, and cayenne pepper. In medicine, a sialogogue is a drug or substance that promotes the secretion of what?
Answer: Saliva
- In the US, basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of what type of cancer?
Answer: Skin cancer
- The Proverbs 17:22 passage "a merrie heart doth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones" led to the popular idiom that "______ is the best medicine." What word fills in the blank? In fact, this idiom has been validated by scientific researchers that indicate painful experiences may indeed be lessened with this "treatment."
Answer: Laughter
- His name lives on in the form of an oath of ethics taken by medical practitioners. Which ancient Greek physician is known as the "Father of Medicine"?
Answer: Hippocrates
- Including naproxen and ibuprofen, the class of pain relievers known as NSAIDs stands for non-WHAT anti-inflammatory drugs?
Answer: Steroidal
- What is the only of the 12 systems of the human body that starts with the letter "L?"
Answer: lymphatic
- “Insipidus” is one form of a metabolic disorder that, in its more common presentation, causes increased thirst, excessive urination, and “sugary” urine that allowed for physicians of yore to make the diagnosis by, well, taking a swig. What is the general term (one word) used to describe this group of disorders?
Answer: diabetes
- Marketed as a children's fever medicine with the slogan "For little hotheads," which brand of the over-the-counter pain reliever acetaminophen was introduced in 1955?
Answer: Tylenol
- First published in 1858, what textbook was based on dissections performed on unclaimed corpses. Its name was later used for a medical tv drama.
Answer: Gray's Anatomy
- The Owls are the sports teams of what public Philadelphia university?
Answer: Temple University
- A nephrologist is a doctor who specializes in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases affecting what organ?
Answer: Kidneys
- Though its original iteration was "monoaural" and wooden, it's now seen with medical professionals world wide and nearly always is biaural (that is, both ears are used.) What is it?
Answer: Stethoscope
- What is the active ingredient in over-the-counter painkillers such as Advil and Nuprin?
Answer: Ibuprofen
- What psychoactive street drug, known to some as molly, was developed by Merck in 1912, and was used as an enhancement for psychotherapy as late as the 1970s?
Answer: MDMA
- What is the more common word for the lymphatic tissues on either side of the back of the human throat that are at their largest during the teenage years?
Answer: Tonsils
- The vaccine for measles prevention is often called the MMR vaccine because it also prevents the mumps and what other disease?
Answer: Rubella
- A Texas carnival barker named Norma McCorvey used what pseudonymous surname to represent herself in a landmark 1973 Supreme Court Case? The case had vast political and medical implications.
Answer: Roe
- Although extreme cases have been known to attack other organs such as the liver and skin, Berger's disease (also known as IgA nephropathy) is a disease that chiefly affects what organ of the body?
Answer: Kidneys
- Inciscors, ______, premolars/bicuspids, molars. What word is missing from this sequenced list?
Answer: Canines
- Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital was the fictional workplace on what TV drama series, whose title character was played by Hugh Laurie?
Answer: House
- What is the three-word name for the disorder in which there's a strong urge to move one's legs? Often, there's an aching, tingling, or crawling feeling that improves somewhat with moving them.
Answer: Restless leg syndrome
- The name of which 2-word disorder comes from Greek & Latin words meaning "without appetite" & "nervous"
Answer: Anorexia Nervosa
- Known for his serpent-entwined staff, who was the ancient Greek god of medicine?
Answer: Asclepius
- After receiving his PhD in biophysics from Harvard University in 1967, Mario Capecchi won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2007 for creating variants of what lab animals with certain genes turned off?
Answer: Mice
- The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus was written in the 17th century BC and contains the earliest recorded reference to the brain. In what ancient empire was this papyrus written?
Answer: Egypt
- How many times a day must you take medication if your prescription reads "q.i.d."?
Answer: Four
- The 600-mile-long plain between the Tigris and Euphrates Valleys was home to the city-state of Sumer, which was the first in a succession of what "M" civilizations?
Answer: Mesopotamia
- What is the active ingredient in Vicks NyQuil that is included for pain relief and fever reduction?
Answer: Acetaminophen
- The DASH diet is a diet rich in grain products and fruits that is designed, as per the acronym "DASH," to treat what condition?
Answer: Hypertension
- Which A-medical term from the Greek word that means “ill-fed” refers to the wasting away and weakening of muscle?
Answer: Atrophy
- A Frankfurt doctor was told by a patient "I have lost myself" and he observed and studied her over a period of five years. This patient became the basis for his paper and lecture in 1906 which ultimately led to his name being associated with what disease?
Answer: Alzheimer's
- Hyperhidrosis is the medical term for excessive what?
Answer: Sweating
- What disease of the endocrine system affects 21 million Americans have & 6 million of them don't know it?
Answer: Diabetes
- Which medical term that starts with N refers to a hard bump under the skin (usually less than 1 centimeter) that can be cancerous or benign, and cystic if it’s filled with fluid?
Answer: Nodule
- Allen Frances writes about the flaws of the DSM-V diagnostic tool in psychological medicine in a 2013 book called “Saving ______.” Fill in the one word blank, an adjective for something that conforms to a standard, and is perceived as usual.
Answer: Saving Normal
- Although neither Darius Rucker nor Old Crow Medicine Show is originally from North Carolina, both struck big referencing the state singing "rock me, mama" in what alliterative two-word song? Hint: We're looking for BOTH end-of-the-alphabet words here.
Answer: Wagon Wheel
- "Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" and the better-known "Seven Nation Army" are songs from the 2003 album "Elephant" by what colorfully-named rock band?
Answer: The White Stripes
- What is the common name for the disease technically known as SLE that uses hydroxychloroquine as one of its treatment drugs? This autoimmune disease has a wide range of symptoms but the most common is a red rash.
Answer: Lupus
- Azoles, like clotrimazole, ketoconazole, and voriconazoles, are compounds typically medicinally used to combat what general type of infection?
Answer: fungi
- What is removed during a cholecystectomy?
Answer: The Gall Bladder
- Subarachnoid hemorrhage - bleeding into the space around the brain - is often caused by a ruptured aneurysm of one of the brain’s blood vessels. Patients with this condition often complain of “the worst headache of my life,” which is also described by what meteorological term (something more commonly heard in the spring and summer)?
Answer: thunderclap
- Which medical term that starts with M describes a general feeling of being unwell or vague discomfort that is sometimes the first inkling of an illness?
Answer: Malaise
- The medical condition, Herpes Zoster is commonly known as what?
Answer: Shingles / Chicken Pox
- "Earkeckers" are an outdated term for what body part, which is typically only discussed when the site of swelling and a removal procedure?
Answer: Tonsils
- Winning a total of three championships, what was the name of Philadelphia's Arena Football League team, which operated from 2004-2008 and again from 2011-2019?
Answer: Philadelphia Soul
- Nirmatrelvir and ritonavir are the two drugs combined in what oral antiviral medication from Pfizer that has been approved by the FDA for emergency use to treat COVID-19 infections since December 2021?
Answer: Paxlovid
- What two-word magazine, a fixture in waiting rooms, has recurring features called “Humor in Uniform" and "Laughter, the Best Medicine?"
Answer: Reader's Digest
- The undersea arthropod’s name sounds more equestrian than epidemiological, but its blue blood is used by medical researchers to test out medicines and treatments. Its scientific name is Limulidae, but it’s commonly called what?
Answer: Horseshoe Crab
- "Bad Medicine" is a hit song from the 1988 album "New Jersey" by what rock band?
Answer: Bon Jovi
- Which term is used to describe a disease that’s common or even constantly present in a specific population?
Answer: Endemic
- What class of drugs known as lipid-lowering medications are tehnically HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors? These drugs have been found to reduce cardiovascular disease and mortality in people at high risk of cardiovascular disease.
Answer: Statins
- Known for his serpent-entwined staff, who was the ancient Greek god of medicine?
Answer: askilopios
- What friar in the Austrian Empire is widely credited as the founder of genetics?
Answer: Gregor Mendel
- What is the 2-word name for the white buffalo born on the Flathead Indian Reservation in 1933 and now on display in Helena?
Answer: Big Medicine
- Which part of the eye is named after the Greek goddess of the rainbow? An alternative medicine technique developed by Ignaz von Peczely involves determining a patient’s health based on characteristics of this part of the eye.
Answer: Iris
- What “r” precedes “braking” in an energy recovery mechanism in which a moving vehicle is slowed down by converting its kinetic energy into a reusable form? This same word is used to refer to a branch of medicine.
Answer: Regenerative
- Nurse Ratched provides medical care of extremely questionable quality in what 1962 Ken Kesey novel as well as its Miloš Forman film adaptation?
Answer: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- Often a result of astigmatism, the condition commonly known as a lazy eye is more formally known in medicine by what term, from the Ancient Greek for “blunted sight?”
Answer: Amblyopia
- The 1974 Pilot song "Magic" has been adapted into an "oh, oh, oh" commercial jingle for what branded diabetes medication whose generic name is semaglutide?
Answer: Ozempic
- Zidovudine, also known as ZDV or AZT, is a medication used to prevent or treat what virus?
Answer: AIDS
- Broad spectrum antibiotics and carbapenem antibiotics are both used to treat sepsis or septicemia, an infection of what?
Answer: Blood
- What is the Latin "C" word that is used in English to refer to either an eyelash (when speaking anatomically) or an organelle on eukaryotic cells that projects from a much larger cell body (when speaking microbiologically)?
Answer: Cilium
- A patient with an anterior ______ ligament (ACL) tear may need surgery, but at the very least will need to take a break from their exercise routine or sports.
Answer: Cruciate
- The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago serves as a macabre dedication to the art of cutting people open, including a surgeon "Hall of Fame." Included in the museum's archives are letters and journals from what famous English statistician who is often considered the founder of modern nursing?
Answer: Florence Nightingale
- The Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine (BCG) is the most widely used vaccine in the history of medicine. While it can offer protection against multiple infections, it’s primarily given to prevent which bacterial infection of the lungs?
Answer: Tuberculosis
- What ancient man wrote a work of political philosophy titled simply "Politics"? Admittedly that's a translated title. The work is divided into eight books and ranges from discussing the instability of tyrannies to pontificating on marriage and children.
Answer: Aristotle
- If the Latin American singer who used to be married to Jennifer Lopez transitioned into being the medical advisor for President Biden, what “before and after” three word name would you have?
Answer: Marc Anthony Fauci
- Which medical term that starts with P and comes from Latin for “loss of color” refers to a patient’s pale, sickly complexion?
Answer: Pallor
- What town in southeastern Alberta gets its name from the English translation of a Blackfoot word for the headdress worn by a traditional healer?
Answer: Medicine Hat
- "Name: Richard Kimble. Profession: Doctor of Medicine. Destination: Death Row, state prison." So started the title voiceover during the first season of what frantic mid-'60s TV drama?
Answer: The Fugitive
- What "T" disease is described as follows? Genetic disorder with increased prevalence among Ashkenazi Jews where harmful quantities of fatty gangliosides accumulate in the brain.
Answer: Tay-Sachs Disease
- In what religion is a book of the dead called the "Bardo Thodol" read to the dying to help them prepare for a favorable rebirth?
Answer: Buddhism
- Medical doctors in the 1890s including Josef Breuer, Alfred Adler, and Otto Rank all actively investigated the mind and systematized a set of therapies and psychotherapy. From what country did all of these men hail?
Answer: Austria
- For the average adult human, the skin has a surface area of how many square feet? (answers accepted within 5ft margin of correct answer)
Answer: 19
- What doctor-author has penned best-selling medical books such as "Complications" "Checklist Manifesto," and "Better?"
Answer: Atul Gawande
- What is the "P" generic name of the anesthetic drug sometimes sold under the brand name Diprivan, which is commonly used to put patients to sleep before surgery and other medical procedures?
Answer: Propofol
- In 1895, one week after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen first realized a cathode ray tube could help one peer into the human body, he used this primitive x-ray to view what body part of his wife?
Answer: Hands
- Which anti-malarial drug is extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree?
Answer: Quinine
- What word is missing from the following medical fact from the 19th century? ______ was originally marketed as a cough suppressant in 1898 as it was not believed to be addictive. This was quickly realized not to be true as it readily breaks down into morphine in the body. Morphine was already known to be addictive.
Answer: Heroin
- The 7th-biggest city by population in Minnesota was once named Medicine Lake but the current name is shared with one of the most famous granite boulders in the US. What is this city?
Answer: Plymouth
- "What Every Baby Knows" and "The Irreducible Needs of Children" are among the many books by what famous American pediatrician with a type of fruit in his name?
Answer: T. Berry Brazelton
- What 19th and early 20th century German psychologist was the first person to separate psychology from biological medicine, and was the first person to refer to psychology as his profession? This man with a “W” name was one of the earliest researchers into human memory.
Answer: Wilhelm Wundt
- A patient with type 1 diabetes may have a wearable device that automatically delivers the medicine that helps keep their blood sugar in check, which is necessary for their survival. The technical name is “continuous subcutaneous insulin therapy,” but what’s the common term for the device?
Answer: Insulin Pump
- Warfarin is an example of which class of “blood-thinning” medications?
Answer: Anticoagulants
- Dutch doctor Willem Kolff used orange juice cans, sausage casings, and car parts to build the first prototype of a machine for what medical procedure in 1943? Nearly 500,000 Americans undergo this type of treatment every year.
Answer: Dialysis
- The codified color associated with the intercollegiate academic discipline of medicine is what color? Put more simply, if you attend a Med School graduation, the graduates will be wearing black robes with what color trim?
Answer: Green
- Although more well-known for his fiction and character creations, what famous author was also an ophthalmologist? He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in the 1870s, was a determined supporter of compulsory vaccination, and partially based his most famous character on a former university teacher.
Answer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The first "successful" heart transplant occurred in South Africa, but the patient died 18 days after the operation due to pneumonia. In which decade did the first heart transplant occur?
Answer: 1960s
- What is the five-letter "B" word that is used to refer to a dosage of fast-acting insulin that is often given via the continuously-attached "pump" device worn by some diabetics?
Answer: Bolus
- Mycosis is a technical name for a disease that’s caused by which organism—for example, Candida, Aspergillus, or Histoplasma?
Answer: Fungi
- HIPAA, the Health Insurance P______ and Accountability Act strictly determines the privacy restrictions around medical records. What does the P stand for?
Answer: Portability
- During a clinical assessment, it is common that a psychiatrist may use a brain imaging technique known as a PET scan. What does PET stand for?
Answer: Positron Emission Tomography
- The Yellow Fever outbreak in 1793 resulted in the deaths of more than 9% of the population in what major American city?
Answer: Philadelphia
- Which medical term refers to small blood vessels that go out from arteries to capillaries?
Answer: Arteriole
- Within 5 years, when did California become the first U.S. state to legalize medical marijuana usage?
Answer: 1996 (1991-2001 accepted as correct)
- Which medical term (from the Greek kachexía meaning “poor state”) describes the physical wasting that occurs in diseases like cancer and tuberculosis?
Answer: Cachexia
- Referring to the likelihood of clearing up the severe skin conditions it treats, "Nothing Is Everything" is the catchy theme song of what AbbVie drug?
Answer: Skyrizi
- In what African country do epidemiologists believe Zika most likely infected its first Homo sapien? (This is the country where it was identified)
Answer: Uganda
- After 30 years of development, a vaccine--called RTS,S--was finally released to prevent what disease in the 2020s?
Answer: Malaria
- What mosquito-borne tropical disease infects up to 500 million people per year, is typically transmitted by the Aedes aegypti, has the alternate name "breakbone fever," and is referred to in a Jin Dynasty Chinese encyclopedia as "water poison"?
Answer: Dengue Fever
- The retina is the inner part of the eyeball. The middle part is the choroid. Covered by the conjuctiva, what is the name of this outer part? In humans, this whole outer part is white, contrasting with the iris. In other mammals, the visible section of this part matches the iris.
Answer: Sclera
- What author earned his MD in California and practiced medicine for a decade before his breakout novel allowed him to pursue writing full time? The 2003 novel followed the story of a young Afghan boy Amir. We're looking for the name of the author, not the book.
Answer: Khaled Hosseini
- How many yards is it from the penalty mark to the goal line on a standard soccer field?
Answer: 12
- What famed medical woman was born in Massachusetts in 1821, never married, and spent much of her childhood undergoing attempts from her parents to "overcome shyness?"
Answer: Clara Barton
- The brain stem and cerebellum are the most ancient part of the human brain and are frequently referred to with what class of animals?
Answer: Reptilian brain
- Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the world's first antibiotic in 1923 and later shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work. In what modern-day country was Fleming born?
Answer: Scotland
- "Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World" is a book from 2003 by writer Tracy Kidder that traces the life of a physician and anthropologist as he focuses on fighting tuberculosis. What non-U.S. country is the focus of the book?
Answer: Haiti
- What "I" word, which literally means "produced by a physician," refers to any disease or complication caused by medical intervention?
Answer: Iatrogenic
- The term "magic bullet" was coined by German scientist Paul Ehrlich to describe a compound that would kill only a specifically targeted organism. Ehrlich even invented the "first magic bullet" with Salvarsan, which was used to treat which disease?
Answer: Syphillis
- The Department of Health and Human Services was previously combined with what other federal department before the two split into separate groups in 1979?
Answer: Dept of Education
- "Specificity," "Plausibility," "Analogy," and "Strength of Association" are four of the 9 criteria named after what English epidemiologist?
Answer: Austin Bradford Hill
- What health-related word evolved from a Middle English term describing the venom of a snake which came from a Latin word meaning "slimy liquid or poison?"
Answer: Virus
- Who is the only woman in history to win an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine? She received the award in 1983 for the discovery of mobile genetic elements.
Answer: Barbara McClintock
- Philadelphia was the most populous city in the U.S. at the time the young nation declared its independence. In what decade did nearby New York City pass Philadelphia as the nation's most populous city?
Answer: 1790s
- Dating back to 3600 BCE in Persia, water-filled "bladder" mattresses were made from an oft-discarded organ of a particular domesticated animal. What is this animal?
Answer: Goat
- What famed absurdist and nihilist author and philosopher once said “Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”?
Answer: Albert Camus
- In 2004, drug maker Pfizer agreed to pay a settlement after illegally marketing what medication, only approved for patients with epilepsy, for non-permitted uses?
Answer: Gabapentin
- Francis J. Doyle III is affiliate with the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School but his more time-consuming role with Harvard has been as dean of what school since 2015?
Answer: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
- The FDA's drug division had its hands full in the early 20th century exposing fraudulent "medicines" as hoaxes. One notable victory shut down the manufacture of what famous fake that capitalized on the popularity of Marie Curie and claimed its product contained radioactive material that could cure cancer?
Answer: Radol
What makes medicine trivia so engaging?
For one, it's endlessly fascinating.
The history of medicine is a story of progress, ingenuity, and in some cases - tragedy.
It's also a reminder of how far we've come as a species.
From the first primitive treatments to the sophisticated procedures of today, the study of medicine has saved countless lives and improved the quality of life for billions of people.
Where can you find medicine trivia questions?
With varying levels of difficulty attached to each, our questions are perfect for trivia night at your local pub or for testing your knowledge with friends and family.
You can also use them to brush up on your own medical knowledge!
Our list of 396 medicine trivia questions covers a wide range of topics related to the history and practice of medicine.
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About the Author
Eli Robinson is the Chief Trivia Officer at Water Cooler Trivia. He was once in a Bruce Springsteen cover band called F Street Band.
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