Understanding and appraising evidence

Question 1

define prevalence

Answer 1

Number of cases of a disease within a defined population measured at a specific point in time. Prevalent cases include both new (incident) and existing cases.

Question 2

what needs to be considered when assessing point prevalence

Answer 2

need to consider whose data was and was not available on the ‘census day’; i.e. participation bias

Question 3

what is relative risk

Answer 3

The relative risk is the incidence in the exposed group divided by the incidence in the non-exposed group