What are morbidity and mortality?

Morbidity and mortality are two fundamental concepts in the study of public health and epidemiology. Both are measures of the frequency and severity of diseases in a given population.

morbidity

Morbidity refers to the number of people suffering from a disease at a given time. In general, it is measured by the prevalence rate, which indicates the proportion of sick people compared to the total number of people at risk in a given population. Another important indicator is incidence, which refers to the proportion of people who become ill in a given period.

Types of morbidity

• General morbidity: refers to the set of diseases that affect a specific population. It can be measured by prevalence or incidence.
• Specific morbidity: refers to the prevalence or incidence of a given disease in a specific population.
• Chronic morbidity: refers to illnesses that last more than three months or that are recurrent. Examples of chronic diseases are diabetes, hypertension or arthritis.
• Acute morbidity: refers to illnesses that last less than three months. Examples of acute illnesses are the common cold, flu, or gastroenteritis.

Mortality

Mortality refers to the number of people who have died due to a disease at a given time. It is measured by the mortality rate, which indicates the proportion of deceased people compared to the total number of people at risk in a given population in a given period. The mortality rate is generally expressed as the number of deaths per thousand people.

types of mortality

• Overall mortality: refers to the rate of deaths from any cause in a given population.
• Specific mortality: refers to the rate of deaths from a specific cause in a specific population.
• Child mortality: refers to the death rate of children under one year of age.
• Maternal mortality: refers to the death rate of women during pregnancy, childbirth or the postpartum period.

Differences between morbidity and mortality

The main difference between morbidity and mortality is that the former refers to the number of people who suffer from a disease, while the latter refers to the number of people who have died due to a disease. In general, morbidity is considered a more sensitive indicator to measure the health status of a population, since it allows us to know the number of people who suffer from a disease and its evolution.

On the other hand, mortality is a more specific and more used indicator to evaluate the quality of health care in the prevention and treatment of diseases.

In summary, although morbidity and mortality are different measures, both are important to evaluate the health of a population and to design disease prevention and treatment strategies. Knowing the difference between both indicators allows us to better understand the health situation of a population and take actions to improve it.

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