Describing Health Conditions: Understanding & Using Rates

Question 1

Ratio

Answer 1

a fraction that represents the relationship between two numbers (1 nurse to 4 patients; 1:4)

Question 2

Proportion

Answer 2

a type of ratio that includes the quantity in the numerator as a part of the denominator (1/8th of a pizza)

Question 3

Rate

Answer 3

describes the occurrence (quantity) of a state of health in a specific group of people in a given time period

Question 4

adjusted rate

Answer 4

procedure that removes the effects of differences in the composition of a population, such as age, when comparing one with another

Question 5

crude rate

Answer 5

measurement of the occurrence of the health problem or condition being investigated in the entire population

Question 6

incidence

Answer 6

number of new cases

Question 7

prevalance

Answer 7

all cases (old and new)

Question 8

mortality rates

Answer 8

death rates, common incidence rates calculated for public health purposes

Question 9

relative risk ratio

Answer 9

ratio of the incidence rate in the exposed group and the incidence rate in the non-exposed group

Question 10

sensitivity

Answer 10

ability of a test to correctly identify people who have the health problem under study (true positives)
-we have to be “positive” towards “sensitive” people

Question 11

specificity

Answer 11

ability of a test to correctly identify people who do not have the health problem (true negatives)

Question 12

Sensitivity equation

Answer 12

TP/TP+FN= sensitivity

Question 13

specificity equation

Answer 13

TN/TN+ FP= specificity