Incidence is a contrasting term to prevalence. Incidence tells us the frequency of occurrence of some event during a particular time period. For example there were 581 criminal homicides in 1997, or the rate of crime for one year is higher than for the previous year. Incidence is the number of new cases of a condition, symptom, death, or injury that arise during a specific period of time, such as in a year. It is often expressed as a percentage of a population (for example, 25% of Americans were diagnosed with the flu in 2002). Incidence proportion, known as cumulative incidence, is the number of new cases within a specified time period divided by the size of the population initially at risk.
The incidence rate is the number of new cases per unit of person-time at risk. Incidence shows the likelihood that a person in that population will be affected by the condition. Prevalence is a measurement of all individuals affected by the disease within a particular period of time, whereas Incidence is a measurement of the number of new individuals who contract a disease during a particular period of time.
Cumulative incidence is the incidence calculated using a period of time during which all of the individuals in the population are considered to be at risk for the outcome. It is sometimes referred to as the incidence proportion. The term prevalence, in epidemiology, tells us about the number of particular events in the community. AIDS for example may be very prevalent (the total number with this syndrome) but the incidence (new cases) is going down each year.
Differentials in the incidence of births while on
welfare: Evidence from Maryland - Ahmed, Ashraf U., Hill, Robert B.
Abstract: Differentials in the incidence of births while on welfare were studied using Quality
Control data for the 1991-1992 period. The results show that around one-quarter of
recipient children were born on welfare and that there were higher rates of such births
amongst young mothers with less than high-school education, who had never married, and
were Baltimore residents.
Changes in the Incidence and Duration of Periods without Insurance
David M. Cutler, Ph.D., and Alexander M. Gelber, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: Background Policymakers have recently proposed ways of providing health care
coverage for an increased number of uninsured persons. However, there are few data that
show how the incidence and duration of periods in which persons do not have insurance have
changed over time.
Diabetes Incidence Based on Linkages With Health Plans: The Multiethnic Cohort, Gertraud Maskarinec, Eva Erber, Andrew Grandinetti, Martijn Verheus, Robert Oum, Beth N. Hopping, Mark M. Schmidt, Aileen Uchida, Deborah Taira Juarez, Krista Hodges and Laurence N. Kolonel. Abstract: OBJECTIVE Using the Hawaii component of the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC), we estimated diabetes incidence among Caucasians, Japanese Americans, and Native Hawaiians.
Participation in Operation Starting Line,
Experience of Negative Emotions, and Incidence of Negative Behavior
- Kent R. Kerley, Todd L. Matthews, Jeffrey T. Schulz, Department of Sociology,
Mississippi State University.
The prison industry in the United States has experienced an unprecedented period of growth
during the past three decades. Growing dissatisfaction with the monetary investment in the
criminal justice system, state-level budget constraints, and high recidivism rates have
led many criminal justice professionals to rethink issues of offender resocialization and
rehabilitation.