Which term refers to the development of a condition in a population over a specific period of time?

The development of a condition in a population over a specific period of time is best described by the term incidence. Incidence refers to the number of new cases of a disease or condition that occur in a specified population during a defined time period. This measure helps public health officials and researchers understand how quickly a disease is spreading within a population.

Incidence is particularly important for tracking infectious diseases or conditions that may have sudden spikes in new cases and can provide insight into the effectiveness of preventive measures or interventions. It is usually expressed as a rate, such as the number of new cases per 1,000 or 100,000 individuals per year.

In contrast, prevalence measures the total number of existing cases (both new and pre-existing) of a disease in a population at a specific point in time. Relative ratio and case-fatality rate pertain to different aspects of disease epidemiology and do not specifically measure the development of new cases over time. Thus, incidence is the most appropriate term for what the question describes.