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In science, prevalence describes a proportion (typically expressed as a percentage). For example, the prevalence of obesity among American adults in 2001 was estimated by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at approximately 20.9%. [5] Prevalence is a term that means being widespread and it is distinct from incidence.
Medical statistics (also health statistics) deals with applications of statistics to medicine and the health sciences, including epidemiology, public health, ...
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases.
Prevalence can also be measured with respect to a specific subgroup of a population. Incidence is usually more useful than prevalence in understanding the disease etiology: for example, if the incidence rate of a disease in a population increases, then there is a risk factor that promotes the incidence.
The World Health Organization has published worldwide incidence and prevalence estimates of individual disorders. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is two to three times as common in Latin America, Africa, and Europe as in Asia and Oceania. [ 7 ]
Epidemiological (and other observational) studies typically highlight associations between exposures and outcomes, rather than causation. While some consider this a limitation of observational research, epidemiological models of causation (e.g. Bradford Hill criteria) [7] contend that an entire body of evidence is needed before determining if an association is truly causal. [8]
The measures quantify either health gaps or health expectancies; the most commonly used health summary measure is the DALY. [ 3 ] [ 13 ] [ 18 ] The exposure-based approach, which measures exposure via pollutant levels, is used to calculate the environmental burden of disease. [ 20 ]
Syndromic surveillance is the analysis of medical data to detect or anticipate disease outbreaks.According to a CDC definition, "the term 'syndromic surveillance' applies to surveillance using health-related data that precede diagnosis and signal a sufficient probability of a case or an outbreak to warrant further public health response.