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Public Health & Epidemiology vocabulary · Outbreaks and Transmission

Attack rate

Meaning in public health & epidemiology, with examples

nounCommon term

In public health & epidemiology, attack rate means: The proportion of people at risk who become ill during an outbreak or another short, defined period, usually given as a percentage.

In Turkish: atak hızı, hastalanma hızı

How it is used

Used in outbreak investigations to compare groups, for example people who ate a certain dish and people who did not. The secondary attack rate is the proportion of contacts, such as household members, who catch the infection from a case.

Example sentences

  1. The attack rate among guests who ate the chicken was 62 percent.

  2. Household secondary attack rates were higher for the new variant.

Common collocations

  • secondary attack rate
  • food-specific attack rate
  • overall attack rate
  • calculate attack rates
  • incidenceThe number of new cases of a disease in a population during a set period, usually given as a rate such as 25 new cases per 100,000 people per year.
  • outbreakA sudden rise in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected, usually limited to one place, group or event.
  • case fatality rateThe proportion of people diagnosed with a disease who die from it, usually within a set time, expressed as a percentage.
  • case-control studyAn observational study that starts with people who have a disease (cases) and people who do not (controls), then looks back to compare their past exposures.

More terms: Outbreaks and Transmission

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.