case fatality rate

noun

variants or case-fatality rate or less commonly case fatality ratio or case-fatality ratio

plural case fatality rates or case-fatality rates also case fatality ratios or case-fatality ratios

: the ratio between deaths and confirmed or reported cases of a specific disease or medical condition within a given time period

Among the immunocompetent patients who had invasive pneumococcal infections caused by serotypes represented in the vaccine, the case fatality rate was 33 percent (23 of 70) among those who had been vaccinated and 25 percent (186 of 738) among those who had not.

—Eugene D. Shapiro et al.

If untreated, the case-fatality rate of inhaled anthrax exceeds 80%.

—The Journal of the American Medical Association

—abbreviation CFR

Examples of case fatality rate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Thus far, the overall case fatality rate of the current clade Ib outbreak appears to be around 5%, but some regions have reported rates in excess of 10%. —Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2024

Three of the patients from South Africa have died, leading to a case fatality rate of 12.5%—far higher the 0.2% seen in the global outbreak. —Byjon Cohen, science.org, 13 Aug. 2024

Only 208 deaths have been reported, a case fatality rate of 0.2%. —Byjon Cohen, science.org, 3 Aug. 2024

First identified 25 years ago in Malaysia, Nipah is estimated to have a case fatality rate as high as 75% and has been cited as having the potential to spark another pandemic. —Ganesh Rao, CNBC, 25 July 2024

Can humans get bird flu? Since 2003, when the virus first started spreading through southern Asia, there have been 868 cases of human infection with H5N1 reported, of which 457 were fatal — a 53% case fatality rate. —Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2024

It was first detected in chickens in Scotland way back in 1959, and between January 2003 and December 2023, 882 human cases were reported across 23 countries, with a case fatality rate of 52 percent. —David Cox, WIRED, 11 Apr. 2024

The global case fatality rate of COVID-19 is around two percent. —Nathan Levine, Foreign Affairs, 16 Mar. 2021

That’s partially because of the high case fatality rate of the viruses, as well as the fact that fruit bats that harbor them migrate globally, facilitating wide spread. —Erin Prater, Fortune Well, 24 June 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

case fatality rate

noun

variants or case-fatality rate also case fatality ratio or case-fatality ratio

: the ratio between deaths and confirmed or reported cases of a specific disease or medical condition within a given time period

Among the immunocompetent patients who had invasive pneumococcal infections caused by serotypes represented in the vaccine, the case fatality rate was 33 percent (23 of 70) among those who had been vaccinated and 25 percent (186 of 738) among those who had not.

—Eugene D. Shapiro et al., The New England Journal of Medicine

An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 cases of invasive group A streptococcal infections occur each year in the United States; of these, necrotizing fasciitis occurs in five to 10 percent, and the case-fatality rate is 28 percent.

—Harvey B. Simon, Scientific American Medicine

—abbreviation CFR