-Provides an indication of the extent of a health problem
-Incidence and prevalence are typically pretty close (but a big difference in chronic diseases)
-Point prevalence = number of cases/total number in the group at a point in time


Interpretation of prevalence

-Is the number of cases of the disease during a time period (average pop at the midpoint)                
-With period prevalence, cases are counted even if they die, migrate, or recur


Point Prevalence

-Describing the burden of a health problem in a population
-Determining the allocation of health resources such as facilities and personnel


Uses of Prevalence

-Prevalence data is not useful to study disease etiology because of the survival factor
-May skew results and wouldn’t be as accurate
-Disease prevalence is not a measure of the risk of developing a disease
-Useful for knowing the extent of the disease and how to allocate resources


Prevalence and etiology

In epidemiology, prevalence is the proportion of a particular population found to be affected by a medical condition at a specific time.

Boston University

Principles of Epidemiology. (n.d.). United States Center for Disease Control. Retrieved July 19, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson6/section2.html

Principles of Epidemiology

8th Edition by Thomas Bodenheimer and Kevin Grumbach

Understanding Health Policy: A Clinical Approach

Descriptive Studies
Correlational, or Ecological Studies
Etiological, or Analytical Studies

Types of Epidemiological Studies

Prevalence

Fixed population: a population whose membership is permanent.The population of Hiroshima, Japan, during an atomic bomb explosion in WWII
Dynamic or open population: membership of this population is defined by a changeable state or condition (resident of Boston)
Steady-state: the number exerting a population is equal to the number leaving (University students)


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