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Public Health & Epidemiology vocabulary · Measuring Health and Disease

Mortality rate

Meaning in public health & epidemiology, with examples

/mɔːˈtæləti reɪt/nounCore term

In public health & epidemiology, mortality rate means: The number of deaths in a population during a period, divided by the size of that population, often given per 1,000 or 100,000 people per year.

In Turkish: ölüm hızı, mortalite hızı

How it is used

Also called the death rate. It can be crude (whole population), age-specific or cause-specific, for example the cancer mortality rate. 'Mortality' alone means death in general: 'Mortality from heart disease has fallen.'

Example sentences

  1. The mortality rate from road traffic injuries is highest among young men.

  2. Crude mortality rates can mislead when two populations have very different age structures.

Common collocations

  • crude mortality rate
  • cause-specific mortality rate
  • all-cause mortality
  • mortality rate per 100,000
  • reduce mortality
  • morbidityThe state of being ill or having a disease, or the amount of illness in a population, as opposed to mortality, which refers to death.
  • case fatality rateThe proportion of people diagnosed with a disease who die from it, usually within a set time, expressed as a percentage.
  • infant mortality rateThe number of babies who die before their first birthday for every 1,000 live births in a given year.
  • age-standardized rateA rate adjusted to remove the effect of differences in age structure, so that populations with more older or more younger people can be fairly compared.
  • excess mortalityThe number of deaths from all causes during a period above what would normally be expected, based on earlier years.

More terms: Measuring Health and Disease

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