Max Rady College of Medicine
Term: Prevalence
Glossary Definition
Last Updated: 2013-10-30
Definition:
The term prevalence refers to the proportion of the population that "has"** a given disease at a given time. The measure of a condition in a population at a given point in time is referred to as point prevalence. A second type is called period prevalence. Over a period of time, such as five years, this measures the number of individuals with a particular condition in the population during that time period. Period prevalence is the most common measure of prevalence used in MCHP studies. Prevalence data provide an indication of the extent of a condition and may have implications for the provision of services needed in a community. Both measures of prevalence are proportions - as such, they do not describe changes over time and should not be described as rates.
** NOTE:
In Fransoo et al. (2013), they reported that the "administrative data used for this study do not directly indicate who has a disease, but rather who received health services treatment for that disease; that is, they received some combination of physician visits, hospitalizations, or prescription drugs."
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