A nurse is reviewing journal articles that discuss the occurrence of major depression. One of the articles describes the number of persons newly diagnosed with the disorder during the past year. The nurse interprets this as which type of data?

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The article is describing incidence, which refers to a rate that includes only new cases that have occurred within a clearly defined time period. The most common time period evaluated is 1 year. Rate reflects the proportion of cases in the population compared with the total population. Prevalence refers to the total number of people with the disorder within a given population at a specified time, regardless of how long ago the disorder started. Point prevalence refers to the proportion of individuals in the population who have a disorder at a specific point in time.

A Nurse Is Reviewing Journal Articles That Discuss the Occurrence