College Of Medicine And Health Science

Department Of Health Informatics

Measure Of Morbidity
By:

05/03/2023 Samara, Ethiopia

Measurement of morbidity
• Morbidity is defined as “any departure, subjective or
objective, from a state of physiological well-being”.
• Sickness,illness,disability.
• Morbidity rates are rates used to quantify the
occurrence of disease. Measures of morbidity include
incidence, period prevalence, and point prevalence rates.
• Morbidity rates/ratio measured by:
I. Frequency of disease: incidence and prevalence
II. Duration of illness:days,months and years
III.Severity of illness: case fatality rates
05/03/2023 3
Importance of morbidity data

• Describe the disease load in community &assist in

establishment of priorities.
• Provide more comprehensive,accurate&clinically relevant
data essential for basic research.
• Monitoring & evaluation of disease control &prevent
activities.
• Starting point of etiological studies and plays crucial role in
disease population.

05/03/2023 4
 Incidence

 The number of new cases or events occurring in a defined population with

in a given period of time.
 It is the best indicator of whether a condition is decreasing, increasing or
remaining static.
Incidence rate = No of new cases at observation period
person during the same time observation
Ex-In ginbot 2000 there were 50 new cases for relapsing fever in
kebele x total population was 5000
Incidence rate = 50/5000 * 1000= 10 new case per 1000 population

05/03/2023 5
Cont..
The critical element in the definition of incidence is new
cases of disease, then population at risk.
Because incidence is a measure of new events (i.e. transition
from a non-diseased to a diseased state), incidence is a
measure of risk.
For incidence to be a measure of risk we must specify a
period of time and we must know that all of the individuals
in the group represented by the denominator have been
followed up for that entire period.
The choice of time period is arbitrary:
We could calculate incidence rate in one week, one month,
one year, 5 years, and so on.
05/03/2023 6
Special Types of Incidence: Attack Rate

Attack rate is a type of incidence rate which is mainly used

during epidemics.
Narrowly defined population
Observed for a limited time (e.g. epidemic).
o Usually expressed as a percent.
Attack rate = No. of new cases of a specific disease
reported during an epidemic X 100
Total population at risk during the same time

05/03/2023 7
Cont..
On Tir 7, 1995, 100 people were invited by Mst X for dinner.
All of them ate the food that was served for dinner. The next
day (Tir 8, 1995) 90 of the 100 people who ate that food
developed diarrhea. Calculate the attack rate of diarrhea
which occurred on Tir 8, 1995.
Solution

Attack rate =90 X 100 = 90 cases of diarrhea people 100

100

That means out of 100 people who ate the food served by
mst x , 90 of them developed diarrhea on Tir 8, 1995

05/03/2023 8
Cont.…

Incidence rate refers to:

Only to new cases
During a given period(usually one year)
Population at risk
new episodes of disease in a given period of time per 1000
population
Uses of incidence
For etiologic studies of both acute and chronic diseases.
Direct indicator of risk
Helps to test hypothesis

05/03/2023 9
 Prevalence

The amount of disease that is already present in a population

All current cases(old and new) existing at a given period of
time, over a period of time in a given population
Total number of all individuals who have disease at a particular
time divided by the population at risk having the disease at this
point in time or midway through the period.
Uses of prevalence
Planning health facilities and human resource
Monitoring chronic disease control programs like
tuberculosis control program

05/03/2023 10
Types of prevalence
• There are two types of prevalence:
I. Point prevalence
II.Period prevalence
I. Point prevalence
Point prevalence:-the number of all current(old and new)cases
of a disease at one point in time relation to defined
population.
Point prevalence rate = Existing cases at one point in time x
1000
Total population

e.g., prevalence of HIV infections in Samara on January 1, 2005.

05/03/2023 11
 II. Period prevalence

Period prevalence:
Period prevalence also known as lifetime prevalence
Measures the proportion of a population that is
affected with a certain conditions during a specified
period of time

Period prevalence = Existing cases over a period of

time x 1000
Total Population

05/03/2023 12
Cont..
Prevalence =Incidence + Duration

I=new
p=all

KEY
I=incidence
P=prevalence

05/03/2023 13
 Factors Affecting Prevalence
Increased by:-
 Long Duration of disease
 Increase new cases/Incidence
 In-migration of cases
 In-migration of susceptible people
 Out-migration of health people
 Improved diagnostics facilities
05/03/2023
decreased by:-
Increased by:
Short duration of disease
Decrease new cases/incidence
In-migration of health people
Out-migration of cases
Improved cure rate of cases
14
Difference between incidence and
prevalence rate
Prevalence
Probability of already having a disease
Numerator count all cause of a disease both
existing and new
Depends on duration of disease
Estimate burdens of disease and needs for health
care resource

05/03/2023 15
 Incidence

probability getting the disease in a given time

require follow-up of individuals to identify new ceases
disease not depend on duration of disease
used when studying causes of disease and spread of disease

05/03/2023 16
 Question?
Thank you!!!

05/03/2023 17