Analysis of Rate of Human Problems
Humans are afflicted with a large number of diseases and other problems. There are several interesting questions related to the occurrence rate of these problems:
Are there a larger total number of rare problems than the number of common problems?
Are you expected to have at least one rare disease because there are so many of them?
For some years now, I have been collecting estimates of the Rate of Human Diseases, Problems and Conditions. I define the "occurrence rate" for a given problem as the percent of people who are affected at least once in their lifetime by that problem. Now that I've put 147 problems into a spreadsheet, I can do some preliminary analysis to begin to answer these questions.
Several caveats should be kept in mind:
The dataset I am analyzing is undoubtedly seriously incomplete, since I myself have a backlog of probably 100 other problems to add to my database, and I probably don't have a complete list yet of problems to add.
There are undoubtedly biases in the reporting rates for different disease. For example, newspapers may be biased to report the "rare" and therefore more interesting problems at a higher rate than "common" problems. On the other hand, people may find it of more interest to read about "their" problems, and thus there may be a bias toward reporting common problems more frequently.
For a list of problems that can affect individual rate estimates, see the Rate of Human Diseases, Problems and Conditions. Since the analysis here is statistical, the uncertainties of individual rates are much less important.
I will continue to add problems, and when I accumulate a significantly expanded set, will revisit this analysis
Human Problems
Are there a larger total number of rare problems than the number of common problems?
Are you expected to have at least one rare disease because there are so many of them?
For some years now, I have been collecting estimates of the Rate of Human Diseases, Problems and Conditions. I define the "occurrence rate" for a given problem as the percent of people who are affected at least once in their lifetime by that problem. Now that I've put 147 problems into a spreadsheet, I can do some preliminary analysis to begin to answer these questions.
Several caveats should be kept in mind:
The dataset I am analyzing is undoubtedly seriously incomplete, since I myself have a backlog of probably 100 other problems to add to my database, and I probably don't have a complete list yet of problems to add.
There are undoubtedly biases in the reporting rates for different disease. For example, newspapers may be biased to report the "rare" and therefore more interesting problems at a higher rate than "common" problems. On the other hand, people may find it of more interest to read about "their" problems, and thus there may be a bias toward reporting common problems more frequently.
For a list of problems that can affect individual rate estimates, see the Rate of Human Diseases, Problems and Conditions. Since the analysis here is statistical, the uncertainties of individual rates are much less important.
I will continue to add problems, and when I accumulate a significantly expanded set, will revisit this analysis
Human Problems
posted by Rev. Dr. Eric Z. Willman at 10:33 AM
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