prevalence
PREV-uh-luhnss
/ˈprɛvələns/
The proportion of a population found to have a specific condition at a given time point or over a specified time period.
Measures total existing cases (both old and new) divided by total population. Think of it as a snapshot of burden.
The story behind the word. From Latin 'praevalere', meaning 'to be stronger' or 'to prevail'. It originally indicated superior power or influence before modern epidemiology adopted it to quantify the dominant presence of a disease in a group.
Word relationships
- pervasiveness: Pervasiveness is a general term; prevalence is a mathematically defined epidemiological ratio.
- commonness: Commonness is informal and non-quantitative.
- rarity: Rarity indicates extremely low occurrence within a population.
Commonly confused with
- incidence: Prevalence measures ALL active cases right now; incidence measures NEW cases diagnosed over time.
Word family
- prevalent (adjective): Widespread or dominant in a particular area at a particular time.
- prevail (verb): To prove superior; to be widespread.
Collocations
- prevalence rate
- high prevalence
- point prevalence
- estimated prevalence
Example sentences
- "The high prevalence of diabetes among adults led municipal leaders to launch a citywide nutritional education initiative." Public health epidemiology
- "Researchers examined the prevalence of remote work arrangements across tech firms following corporate restructuring." Sociology
Memory hook
PREVALence tells us how PREVALENT (widespread) a condition is PREsent right now. Prevalence = total existing burden PREsent today.
When not to use
Do not confuse with incidence, which counts only newly diagnosed cases over a period.
Fun facts
- A disease can have high prevalence but low incidence if patients live for decades with the condition (like type 1 diabetes).
Related words
Explore more words
epidemiology, chronic, cohort, ubiquitous, omnipresent, mortality
Also appears in
Take your vocabulary further with LangBlitz
Our English vocabulary app: FSRS spaced repetition, 5,000+ curated words across 119 topic groups, CEFR A1 to C2. Explore your mastery with the beautiful Vocabulary World feature.