Incidence refers to the number of new cases or events over a specified timeframe or a particular point in time. Incidence is commonly used when discussing cases of diseases or other health-related outcomes.

For example, in 2016-2017 the incidence of diabetes in Canada was 603.5 per 100,000 adults. This means that for every 100,000 adults in Canada, 603.5 were newly diagnosed with diabetes during the 2016/2017 fiscal year.

Incidence rate example from LeBlanc AG, Gao YJ, McRae L & Pelletier C. (2019). At-a-glance - Twenty years of diabetes surveillance using the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System.

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