Health indicators
Measuring a population's health: prevalence and incidence, mortality, infant and premature mortality, case fatality, morbidity, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, with cases to stop mixing them up.
- 30 cards
- 3 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Scenarios
- Understand
A few cards from the deck
Prevalence: what is it?
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The number of cases of a disease present in a population at a given time, relative to that population.
It measures a disease's burden.
New diabetes cases diagnosed this year are counted. Which indicator?
- Incidence
- Prevalence
- Case fatality
- Infant mortality
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Incidence
New cases over a period: incidence.
Incidence: what is it?
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The number of new cases of a disease over a period, relative to the population.
It measures how fast the disease appears.
Why can a very serious, fast disease have low prevalence and high incidence?
- It cannot
- Patients are miscounted
- Patients recover or die quickly: few cases remain present at any moment
- Prevalence does not depend on duration
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Patients recover or die quickly: few cases remain present at any moment
Flu is an example: many new cases, of short duration.
Mortality rate: what is it?
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The number of deaths over a period, relative to the population.
It is age-standardised to compare populations.
All people living with diabetes on 1 January are counted. Which indicator?
- Incidence
- Prevalence
- Mortality
- Case fatality
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Prevalence
All cases present at one time: prevalence.