[Biology Class Notes] on Difference Between Morbidity and Mortality Pdf

The terms Morbidity and Mortality are often used interchangeably, but though they are related, do not have the same meaning. So, what do morbidity and mortality mean?

While morbidity refers to the state of the unhealthiness of an individual, mortality means the state of being mortal. 

In addition to this, both terms can be applied to describe an individual or population. Therefore, when we say the mortality rate of a country, we mean the number of deaths in a country at a time. Similarly, the morbidity rate of a state means the frequency of diseases each year.

 

Let us examine Morbidity and Mortality Meaning and Importance in Detail 

Morbidity Rate 

The word morbid means a state of being diseased or sick. Moreover, the term comorbidity means two or more conditions that affect a person at the same time. Thus, the rate of morbidity can be defined as the frequency of individuals infected with a disease or infected at a given time.

The morbidity rate is measured on two points, prevalence and incidence. Prevalence in this context refers to the percentage of the population affected by a disease. Incidence refers to the rate at which individuals are developing an infection.

This rate enables doctors, researchers, scientists, and other health personnel to determine the prevalence of significant diseases in an area, as well as track new illnesses.  The diseases can be either acute or chronic.

 

Acute and Chronic Diseases

Acute illnesses are those which affect a person suddenly and progress rapidly. It also lasts for a short period only. Some acute conditions may require emergency medical attention. Examples of acute diseases are – influenza, appendicitis, pneumonia, asthma etc. 

On the other hand, chronic diseases are those that last for an extended period of three months or more. Unlike acute illnesses, chronic diseases cannot be cured with vaccinations. However, they can be controlled, prevented and in some cases cured by medicines, proper treatment and following other restrictions daily. Some examples of chronic diseases are – arthritis, cancer, heart disease and so on.

Hence, based on information from morbidity rate, authorities can adopt necessary measures such as arranging for medicines, vaccines, researching cures to prevent both morbidity and mortality in the short term and eradicating the disease or infection in the long run.

The morbidity rate reflects the quality of health and life of residents of a country.

 

Mortality Rate

The mortality rate is the rate of death per 1000 individuals in a particular country. There can be various underlying causes of death of human beings. Accordingly, there are different mortality rates. For example, the infant mortality rate is used to ascertain the number of children who died before turning one year old. Similarly, there are maternal mortality rates and mortality rates based on age.  

Data scientists use different mortality rates to determine the causes of most deaths in an area. It may be due to disease, poor health conditions and various other social reasons. Hence morbidity and mortality statistics need to be studied together to make an informed decision regarding the state of healthcare of a city or the country.

 

The Table Below Summarizes the Differences between Morbidity and Mortality

 

If you want to learn more about morbidity and mortality, you can go through the articles and study guides available on our website. You can even get them in PDF format through our dedicated application. 

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Morbidity Vs Mortality

Morbidity is referred to as that state where someone is not healthy. It can be used to explain all the people that were affected by the disease in a particular area. The rate of morbidity is referred to the number of people that were affected by a disease. This can be extremely helpful for managing risk factors and also adopting new health systems to reduce morbidity in the population and keeping a healthy functioning population. On the other hand, mortality is the number of deaths in an area. It can be explained as the number of deaths that occur in 100 people per year. It is measured by different scales. For example, Glasgow and coma scales. Thus, morbidity is used to describe the state of being unhealthy and mortality defines the state of being mortal. Furthermore, both the terms mortality and morbidity can be used to describe the individual or a population in an area. Thus, when we talk about the mortality rate of a country we mean the number of deaths that have occurred there. And morbidity rate defines the state of how much the diseases are frequent in a year. Both mortality rate and morbidity rate can be ambiguous but they mean different things. Both of these are considered to improve the healthcare systems of a country and thus, maintain the healthy and proper functioning of the population.