Morbidity refers to which of the following?

• A. Death rate in a population
• B. Rate of new disease cases
• C. State of having poor health or disease because of any reason
• D. Severity of disease

Answer: (C)

Morbidity is about the burden of ill health in a population. It describes the state of being diseased or unwell, caused by any illness or health problem, not limited to a single disease or outcome. This focuses on the presence of disease or poor health itself, which is why it’s best described as the general condition of people being ill or disabled.

It’s distinct from mortality, which measures deaths in a population. It’s also different from incidence, which is the rate at which new cases appear. While severity of disease can influence how much morbidity a population experiences, morbidity as a concept centers on the existence of disease or poor health, not solely how severe it is.