Question

A population of 9,000 men was examined in January 2014. Of these men, 6,000 were exposed to high levels of air pollution, and 3,000 were exposed to low levels of air pollution. At the physical examination, 90 cases of chronic bronchitis were identified, including 60 cases among the high-exposure group. All of the men who were initially examined and did not have chronic bronchitis were followed by repeat examination over the next five years. These follow-up exams identified 268 new cases of bronchitis in the total group, including 30 cases among the low-exposure group. Calculate the prevalence and the incidence.

Calculate the prevalence of chronic bronchitis in the high-exposure group:

Answer 1

The prevalence of chronic bronchitis in a population of men exposed to high levels of air pollution is calculated by dividing the number of cases by the total number of men in that group and multiplying by 100. In this scenario, the prevalence is 1%.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student is asked to calculate the prevalence of chronic bronchitis in a high-exposure group to air pollution. The prevalence is a measure of the number of cases of a disease that are present in a particular population at a given time. To compute the prevalence, we will use the existing cases at the start of the study and the new cases identified over the follow-up period.

Initially, there were 60 cases of chronic bronchitis identified among the 6,000 men who were exposed to high levels of air pollution. Over the next five years, no additional data on new or existing cases in the high-exposure group were provided, so we'll only use the initial cases for our calculation since there is no information on whether the 268 new cases of bronchitis includes additional cases from the high-exposure group or not.

To calculate the prevalence of chronic bronchitis in the high-exposure group, we divide the number of cases of chronic bronchitis (60) by the total number of men in the high-exposure group (6,000) and then multiply by 100 to express it as a percentage:

Prevalence = (Number of cases of chronic bronchitis / Total number of people in high-exposure group) × 100

Prevalence = (60 / 6,000) × 100

Prevalence = 1%

The prevalence of chronic bronchitis among men in the high-exposure group to air pollution is 1%.