In his rapid response, Prof Majeed raps the authors on the knuckles unjustly.
He says that incidence is a rate. No, Sir. Incidence is just the number of incidents encountered. The Incidence Rate is the number of incidents per hundred or per thousand or per million or whatever. In the example given, I accept the incidence rate as calculated by Prof Majeed. But, Sahnsn et al were equally correct in saying that the annual incidence in this country is, at present 14,000 to 20,000. We should of course add that these are the numbers of cases that come to the notice of the hospitals every year. They do not reflect NEW perianal abscesses that sprout (if the botanical term may be used here - mixing metaphors) AND are referred to the surgeons.
A personal note of explanation: about a score of years ago I did develop a perianal abscess. I possessed a cutting needle.
Rapid Response:
Re: Perianal abscess - Prof Majeed's criticism
In his rapid response, Prof Majeed raps the authors on the knuckles unjustly.
He says that incidence is a rate. No, Sir. Incidence is just the number of incidents encountered. The Incidence Rate is the number of incidents per hundred or per thousand or per million or whatever. In the example given, I accept the incidence rate as calculated by Prof Majeed. But, Sahnsn et al were equally correct in saying that the annual incidence in this country is, at present 14,000 to 20,000. We should of course add that these are the numbers of cases that come to the notice of the hospitals every year. They do not reflect NEW perianal abscesses that sprout (if the botanical term may be used here - mixing metaphors) AND are referred to the surgeons.
A personal note of explanation: about a score of years ago I did develop a perianal abscess. I possessed a cutting needle.
Competing interests: No competing interests