morbidity
mor-BID-ih-tee
/mɔːrˈbɪdɪti/
The condition of being diseased or unhealthy; the rate or frequency of disease within a population.
Refers to illness, disability, or poor health within a group, as opposed to death.
The story behind the word. From Latin 'morbidus' (sickly), derived from 'morbus' (disease). Late 19th-century statisticians adopted morbidity to distinguish disease tracking from mortality (death tracking) in hospital registers.
Word relationships
- illness rate: Illness rate is lay language; morbidity is the formal statistical and clinical term.
- disease burden: Disease burden measures the total social and economic impact, whereas morbidity focuses on health state.
- robustness: State of being strong and healthy.
- healthiness: The absence of disease.
Commonly confused with
- mortality: Morbidity is sickness; mortality is death.
- morbidness: Morbidness often refers to an unhealthy mental fascination with death; morbidity refers to biological state of illness.
Word family
- morbid (adjective): Relating to disease, or characterized by an unhealthy interest in disturbing subjects.
- comorbidity (noun): The simultaneous presence of two or more medical conditions in a patient.
Collocations
- morbidity rate
- co-morbidity
- morbidity and mortality
- reduce morbidity
Example sentences
- "Preventive medicine programs aim to lower morbidity rates and improve the long-term quality of life for aging populations." Health economics
- "The drug reduced patient morbidity by shortening recovery times and preventing secondary bacterial infections." Clinical study
Memory hook
MORBIDity = MORBID health state (illness), whereas MORTality = MORTAL end (death). Morbidity = Illness state. Mortality = Death state.
When not to use
Do not use to describe deaths or death rates (use mortality).
Fun facts
- The term 'comorbidity' was coined by Dr. A. R. Feinstein in 1970 to describe patients suffering from rheumatic fever who also had other chronic ailments.
Related words
Explore more words
mortality, fatality, susceptibility, chronically, depopulation, prognosis
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