Question

In comparing two different populations, the prevalence of disease X is much higher in Newtown than in Oldtown, but the incidence is much lower in Newtown than in Oldtown 1) Which population has a higher risk of getting disease X? 2) Describe two different possible scenarios of how Newtown could have a higher prevalence but lower incidence than Oldtown.

Answer 1

Answer-

Prevalence measures how much of a disease or condition there is in a population at a particular point in time.

Incidence measures the rate of occurrence of new cases of a disease or condition.

In the given case the prevalence of disease is high and incidence is low in Newtown as compared to Oldtown.

The Oldtown population have high risk of getting disease. Because future spread of disease is mainly controlled by incidence.

Moreover the population in Newtown have low incidence which means that, they are now able to control the spread of disease. While Oldtown have greater incidence, which means that disease is spreading more rapidly in their population.

Scenarios which tells about high prevalence and low incidence of disease in Newtown-

• The high prevalence of disease in this case is due to past ignorance or lack of knowledge about disease but they have now controlled the disease incidence because they may have developed effective preventive measures.
• The low incidence may be due to better knowledge of pathogen and it's mode of infection and also due to effective treatment.