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Helpful Definitions
Prevalence: The number of existing cases of a particular condition, disease, or other occurrence (e.g., persons smoking) at a given time.
Incidence: The number of new cases (as, of a disease) occurring during a particular period of time (e.g., 100 cases of TB from 1998 to 2002).
Prevalence or incidence rate: Cases in a particular population quantity—e.g., per hundred or per thousand.
Age-adjusted figure: A figure that is statistically corrected to remove the distorting effect of age when comparing populations of different age structures.
Note: All statistics in this document apply specifically to the United States and are for the most recent available year. Factors used in expressing these data, as determined by the collecting agencies:
- Mortality (death) rates are per 100,000 population.
- Chronic disease prevalence is per 1,000 population.
- Hospital discharge rates are per 10,000 population.
- Incidence rates are per 100 or per 100,000 population.
- Morbidity is defined as illness.
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