Meaning of morbidity (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Morbidity:

Morbidity is the index of sick people in a certain place and time. The morbidity index or rate is a useful statistical data to study the processes of evolution and control of diseases.

The World Health Organization defines it as "any subjective or objective deviation from a welfare state".

Morbidity data may come from routine records kept by public, medical and other health records, as well as surveys. The index is obtained by dividing the number of patients in a locality or region by the total of its population, multiplied by 1000 or by 100,000.

This data allows governments to establish adequate policies to fulfill the right to health enshrined in the different constitutions.

Types of rate or morbidity index

The morbidity rate allows describing the health status of a population, as well as studying the appearance and evolution of different diseases and their possible cure. However, this study is achieved through numerical data on the recurrence of diseases in different population groups, time and place.

There are two types of morbidity rates:

1) The prevalence rate conducts studies of the oldest and most recent cases of a pathological disease in a given period or period.

2) The incidence rate refers to the development of the disease in a certain time.

See also:

• Birth rate, Birth rate, Epidemiology.

Morbidity and mortality

If morbidity is the index of people suffering from disease in a given region and period, and if mortality is the number of deaths, also in a given population and time, morbidity and mortality refers to the set of fatal diseases that have affected a number of people at a certain time and place.

See also Public health.