Incidence rate
Incidence rate
The frequency of new disease occurrence in a defined population over time. A person-time incidence rate is new cases divided by total time at risk.
How to read it
Check population, case definition, year and denominator. A rate per 100,000 person-years differs from cumulative incidence, which divides new cases by the initially disease-free population.
A common pitfall
A new diagnosis may represent longstanding, previously unrecognized disease. Rising diagnoses alone do not establish rising biological disease onset.
A teaching example
Five incident cases over 100,000 person-years yield 5 cases per 100,000 person-years. These are illustrative numbers, not ATTR-CM results.
Compare age ranges, ascertainment and screening intensity before comparing countries or years; use age-standardized rates when appropriate.
Read it in context
Related readings will be added as the collection grows.