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had that word on the lookout for
is put for wisdom

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

background rate

English answer:

there is a family history or background

Added to glossary by Yvonne Gallagher
Sep 16, 2012 20:26
11 yrs ago
10 viewers *
English term

background rate

English Science Psychology
'Autism has the strongest heritability of any neuropsychiatric disorder. The background prevalence is almost 1 percent, with current estimates of about one in 110 eight-year-old children having diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. But if one child in a family has autism, the likelihood that a sibling will, too, is about 3 percent - triple the background rate' (Richard J. Davidson 'The emotional life of your brain')

I'm not sure what this 'background rate' refers to, same with 'background prevalence'.
Responses
4 +2 there is a family history or background
Change log

Sep 30, 2012 13:32: Yvonne Gallagher Created KOG entry

Discussion

rzezucha (asker) Sep 19, 2012:
The term 'background rate' seems to be used in medicine and means 'the rate, often low, at which some event or agent occurs, at a particular time or in a particular place, in the absence of a specific hazard'. Wouldn't that mean that normally the prevalence is 1 % (in the absence of genetic component) but when one sibling has autism the prevalence is 3%?

Responses

+2
47 mins
Selected

there is a family history or background

imo

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Note added at 52 mins (2012-09-16 21:18:27 GMT)
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"background prevalence is almost 1 percent" means that this % has some history of Autism in their family. However, if there is a child with autism in a family then the rate is multiplied by three for the possibility that another child (sibling) will also have Autism

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Note added at 53 mins (2012-09-16 21:19:32 GMT)
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so, the percentage is higher the more close the "background" relationship is in the family

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Note added at 2 hrs (2012-09-16 22:48:21 GMT)
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meant to say the "heritability" refers to the possibility of this being an "inherited" disorder

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Note added at 13 days (2012-09-30 13:31:41 GMT) Post-grading
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re the point in discussion, it may be true to say that "background rate" is simply the prevalence of the illness in the general population
Peer comment(s):
agree Tina Vonhof (X)
3 hrs
many thanks Tina!
agree Veronika McLaren
2 days 15 hrs
many thanks Veronika:-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
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