PUB 540 Explain the difference between incidence and prevalence of a disease and discuss their relationship
PUB 540 Explain the difference between incidence and prevalence of a disease and discuss their relationship
PUB 540 Explain the difference between incidence and prevalence of a disease and discuss their relationship
As discussed in the YouTube video, (Patwari, 2013, 3:39) in measuring outcomes the relationship between prevalence and incidence shows that the more disease in the community. Prevalence can be cut down by either people dying or by being cured. Therapy, such as a vaccine deceases the number of people dying because the number of people that have been taken out decreases the total number of those that have the disease due to treatment. Incidence is the amount of disease, the faster the disease comes into the community, there is an increase of incidence. Prevalence equals incidence multiplied by the duration (time) people have the disease. The best example of this is the COVID-19 vaccines at the time they were approved and available in treating or preventing severity and risk for hospitalization which was also a risk for death.
To further discuss the relationship between prevalence and incidence, (Barrat, Kirwan & Shantikumar, n.d.) talk about this relationship in terms of people that are at risk in the population. Their definition of prevalence is the existing cases of disease as part of the population and incidence is the number of new cases in the population during a certain segment of time, which equals frequency of disease compared to new cases that develop in a certain span of time is another way of putting it.
Reference
Barratt, Kirwan, & Shantikumar (n.d.). Numerators, denominators and populations at risk. Public Health Textbook, Health Knowledge. https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/reserach-methods/1a-epidemiology/numerators-denominators-populations
Patwari,R. (2013). The Relationship Between Incidence and Prevalence (Video). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jzZe3ORdd8
Prevalence is defined as the number of cases of a disease within a specific population within a particular time point over a given time span. Furthermore, prevalence can be broken into point prevalence or a period prevalence. Point prevalence is the proportion of people with a disease at a particular point during a time period ( Friis & Sellers, 2021) . On the other hand, period prevalence is the people with a specific disease during a given time period. When individuals seek health treatment and get cured during a disease or die the prevalence change.
Incidence refers to rate of new cases in a specific population over a particular period. Prevalence includes all cases (new and pre-existing cases) and incidence refers to new cases only. For example, the number of people with asthma will depict a disease that describes incidence. There’s no cure for asthma and often it doesn’t result in mortality unless there is an exacerbation or chronic complications. Prevalence and incidence are useful for administrators when examining the need for services or treatment facilities.
References:
Friis, R. H., & Sellers, T. A. (2021). Epidemiology for public health practice (6th ed.). Jones and Bartlett Learning. ISBN-13: 9781284175431
Straif-Bourgeois, S., Ratard, R., & Kretzschmar, M. (2014). Infectious Disease Epidemiology. Handbook of Epidemiology, 2041–2119. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09834-0_34
Click here to ORDER an A++ paper from our Verified MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS PUB 540 Explain the difference between incidence and prevalence of a disease and discuss their relationship:
One of the crucial functions of epidemiology is to study the occurrence and distribution of diseases and health-related events (Friis & Sellers, 2021). Therefore, it involves the application of measuring data to study patterns of diseases and to identify the health outcome of the population or communities at a certain time.
Prevalence is also known as prevalence rate which is the number of existing cases of a disease or health problem in a population at a given time (Friis & Sellers, 2021). Prevalence has two types of measure; these are point prevalence and period prevalence. Point prevalence is defined as the measure of prevalence at a particular point in time, while period prevalence is the prevalence measured during an interval of time such as a month or a week. An example of the prevalence rate would be the self-reported obesity in California during 2018-to 2020 is 30.3.
The incidence rate is also known as the person-time rate which is defined as the measure or number of illnesses currently happening or of persons getting ill during a given period of time in a specific population (Friis & Sellers, 2021). Prevalence rate and incidence rate often get confused. Prevalence refers to the proportions who have a condtion during a particular time while incidence rate refers to the proportion of persons develop a condition.
Reference
Friis, R.H. & Sellers, T.A. (2021). Epidemiology for public health practice (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones
& Bartlett Learning.
Generally, incidence and prevalence proportions of diseases exist as relevant measures that help healthcare organizations and systems in determining the extensiveness of medical conditions within a specific period. Notably, they are epidemiological measures that describe the frequency of medical conditions help in creating a foundation through which diseases may be monitored.
On that note, disease prevalence, as explained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relates to the percentage or rather the proportion of a population impacted by the existence or prevalence of a specific medical condition at a certain time (2022). In this light, prevalence often accounts for the total number of people having the disease or the specified condition at a certain period. On the other hand, the incidence of a disease refers to the occurrence rate of an infection or diseases among the population of people (Spronk et al., 2019). In most cases, disease incidence is attributed to the proportion of new disease cases occurring among a specific population within a stipulated period.
The relationship between prevalence and incidence is that as prevalence measures the percentage of population affected by disease, it is influenced by the rate of occurrence of new cases (incidence). On the other hand, incidence relates to the rate of how new cases increase within a population, hence become prevalent conditions and concerns. For example, the number of case reports of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated through 2019-2022, hence resulting to a high incidence of the disease. However, as the condition reaches its peak in 2022, the prevalence is quite low since the number of deaths recorded compare to those of when it was once diagnosed. Therefore, disease incidence and prevalence help in determining the severity of a particular condition hence informing the length of an infection over time.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Section 2: Morbidity Frequency Measures. CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson3/section2.html#:~:text=Prevalence%20refers%20to%20proportion%20of,during%20a%20particular%20time%20period.
Spronk, I., Korevaar, J. C., Poos, R., Davids, R., Hilderink, H., Schellevis, F. G., … & Nielen, M. M. (2019). Calculating incidence rates and prevalence proportions: not as simple as it seems. BMC public health, 19(1), 1-9.
Prevalence represents existing cases of a disease and can be seen as a measure of disease status; it is the proportion of people in a population having a disease. Prevalence is often useful as it reflects the burden of a disease in a certain population. This is not limited to burden in terms of monetary costs; it also reflects burden in terms of life expectancy, morbidity, quality of life, or other indicators. Knowledge of the burden of disease can help decision makers to determine where investments in health care should be targeted. For example, the prevalent number of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients predicts the need for dialysis facilities and the related costs. (Zelmer, 2007) . So prevalence and incidence are similar, but prevalence includes new and pre-existing cases whereas incidence includes new cases only. Both prevalence and incidence are epidemiological measures showing information about disease in the population. This allows for evaluation of how often and in which people diseases occur, and planning for allocation of resources for the future.
The differences between prevalence and incidence may initially seem subtle but they do measure different aspects of disease occurrence.
Reference:
Zelmer JL: The economic burden of end-stage renal disease in Canada. Kidney Int 2007;72:1122–1129.
Noordzij M, Dekker FW, Zoccali C, Jager KJ. Measures of disease frequency: prevalence and incidence. Nephron Clin Pract. 2010;115(1):c17-c20. doi:10.1159/000286345
The difference between incidence and prevalence is that prevalence captures the all cases of a disease or problem in one moment in time; unlike incidence which reports only the new cases of the disease or problem over a specific time period. When I was the Wound & Ostomy Nurse manager for my hospital, every quarter of the year we had to pick a day within that quarter to do a prevalence survey of all the pressure injuries in the hospital. However, monthly I had to report all new incidences of pressure injuires on each unit in the hospital.
This allowed the hospital to evaluate our pressure injuries occurrances and identify any particular units that may have high rates of pressure injuries and focus on educational and other interventions to improve the care on those units.
Resource
Friis, R. & Sellers, T. (2021). Epidemiology for public health practice (6th ed.). Jones and Bartlett Learning. Burlington, MA; chapter 3.
According to the New York State Department of Health (n.d.). incidence is a measure of disease that allows us to determine a person’s probability of being diagnosed with a disease during a given period of time or the number of newly diagnosed cases of a disease, while prevalence is a measure of disease that allows us to determine a person’s likelihood of having a disease or the total number of cases of disease existing in a population. Prevalence differs from incidence in that prevalence includes all cases, both new and pre-existing in the population at the specific time, whereas incidence is limited to new cases only.
An example identified by the New York State Department of Health (n.d.). to explain incidence of a disease is seen in the case of breast cancer.
If over the course of one year, 5 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, out of a total female study population of 200 (who do not have breast cancer at the beginning of the study period), then we would say the incidence of breast cancer in this population was 0.025. (or 2,500 per 100,000 women). (5/200)x100=0.025
An example of prevalence is if a measurement of cancer is taken in a population of 40,000 people and 1,200 were recently diagnosed with cancer and 3,500 are living with cancer then the prevalence of cancer is 0.118. (or 11,750 per 100,00 persons). (4,500+1,200)/40,000=0.118
Reference
New York State Department of Health (n.d.). Basic Statistics: About Incidence, Prevalence, Morbidity, and Mortality Statistics Teaching Tools.
Incidence and prevalence of disease both measure different occurrences, but they are related. Incidence of the disease is the number of people who develop a condition and or disease in a population at a particular time and or period, (Friis & Li, 2021).
Prevalence of disease refers to the number or proportion of people with pre-existing and new conditions of diseases in a population at or during a particular time, (Friis & Li, 2021).
The relationship between incidence and prevalence of disease, epidemiology is to study the occurrence and determinants of disease. Measuring the frequency of a disease or other health outcome in a population and identifying how the disease may differ over time or among populations are important steps in discovering potential causes of disease and determining effective methods for prevention and care. Prevalence reflects the burden of a disease in a certain population and reflects life expectancy, morbidity, quality of life, or other indicators. Incidence reflects the number of new cases or development of diseases within a certain period and can be expressed as a risk or incidence rate. Using diabetes as the prevalence of disease pre-existing, life expectancy, and the incidence of the new diagnosis of the disease is the numerator and people at risk of developing the disease is the denominator, during a specified period when cases cumulated, (Friis & Li, 2021).
Reference
Friis, R. H., & Sellers, T. A. (2021). Epidemiology for public health practice (6th ed.). Jones and Bartlett Learning. ISBN-13: 9781284175431