Advanced Dental Admission Test (ADAT)

In medical terms, what does the frequency of a disease refer to?

1. Severity of symptoms

2. Number of cases

3. Duration of illness

4. Response to treatment

The correct answer is: Number of cases

The frequency of a disease in medical terms specifically refers to the number of cases of the disease that occur in a defined population over a specific period of time. This includes metrics such as incidence, which measures the occurrence of new cases, and prevalence, which represents the total number of existing cases at a given time. Understanding the frequency helps public health officials and researchers assess the impact of the disease on a population, track potential outbreaks, and allocate resources appropriately. In contrast, the severity of symptoms, duration of illness, and response to treatment, while important, pertain to different aspects of disease management and epidemiology. These elements focus more on individual experiences with the disease rather than how often the disease appears within a given population.