Quantitative Concept
incidence Audio
in·ci·dence [ in-si-duhns ]
Subclass of:
Morbidity - disease rate
Definitions related to incidence:
  • The number of new cases of a disease diagnosed each year.
    NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • The number of new cases of a given disease during a given period in a specified population. It also is used for the rate at which new events occur in a defined population. It is differentiated from PREVALENCE, which refers to all cases in the population at a given time.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
  • The relative frequency of occurrence of something.
    NCI
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • Incidence, in epidemiology, occurrence of new cases of disease, injury, or other medical conditions over a specified time period, typically calculated as a rate or proportion. Examples of incident cases or events include a person developing diabetes, becoming infected with HIV, starting to smoke...
    Encyclopedia Britannica
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2025
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