Question

Incidence and prevalence are commonly used to measure the existence of disease in a population. In what instances would prevalence be a better indicator of disease burden than incidence? When would incidence be a more appropriate measure?

Answer 1

Prevalence measures the burden of disease within the particular population at a particular time, the number of people get affected by the disease. incidence shows the number of new cases of a disease considered as incidence rate. it both together help to measure the disease occurrence and frequency.
prevalence is useful that reflects the disease burden among the population, it measures the disease burden across the locations.it includes life expectance, quality of life, morbidity, and other indicators, this help for decision making where we need more focus on research. but incidence focus only on new cases of the disease with a particular period that is as a risk or incidence rate.
Incidence can be more appropriate to understand the disease causes that increase the risk factors to promote the incidence.it also includes susceptible persons in particular locations within the period of time.it compares the rates among different subgroups and their exposure. it measures the disease frequency among the two groups.