Morbidity

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In medicine, epidemiology and actuarial science, the term morbidity can refer to

  • the state of being diseased (from Latin morbidus: sick, unhealthy),
  • the degree or severity of a disease,
  • the prevalence of a disease: the total number of cases in a particular population at a particular point in time,
  • the incidence of a disease: the number of new cases in a particular population during a particular time interval.
  • disability irrespective of cause (e.g., disability caused by accidents).

The term morbidity rate can refer either to the incidence rate or to the prevalence rate of a disease. Compare this with the mortality rate of a condition, which is the number of people dying during a given time interval, divided by the total number of people in the population. Morbidity is often what is measured by ICU scoring systems.

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