As a result, the increase in prevalence that has been seen in recent decades for many NCDs largely reflects an increase in the prevalence of early stages of the disease only. Increasing overall disease prevalence has hidden decreasing prevalence of late-stage or complicated disease.
因此，最近几十年来多种NCD普遍性的增加在很大程度上只是早期疾病的普遍性增加了。总体NCD普遍性的增加隐藏了晚期或复杂病症普遍性的下降。我将这一NCD患病人群症状的轻化趋势称为“严重度效应”。