MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Incidence

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Incidence

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Definition

Definition

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 shows the likelihood that a person in that population will be affected by the condition.

Update Date: 5/17/2007

Updated by: Benjamin W. Van Voorhees, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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