Epidemiology Flashcards
Attack Rate
Number of people at risk (aka number of people who ate a certain food and became ill)/
Total number of people at risk (aka total number of people who ate that food)
Attack Rate
New cases occurring during a given period of time /
Population at risk during the same time period
Person- time
Expressed in terms of person- month or person-years of observation
Prevalence
New and existing cases of the disease or event at a point in time/
Total study population at a point in time
Point prevalence
Prevalence of disease at a certain point in time
ex- Do you currently have asthma?
Period Prevalence
How many people have had the disease at any point during a certain time period?
ex- Have you had asthma during the last (n) years
Cumulative incident
Have you ever had asthma
Prevalence
Incident x Duration of Disease
Epidemiology
Study of the distribution and determinants of health related states or events in a specific population and the application of this study to control health problems
Application of Epidemiology
- Identify the cause of disease
- Determine the extent of the disease found in a community
- Study natural history and prognosis of disease
- Evaluate both existing and newly developed preventative and therapeutic measures of modes of health care delivery
Contribution of historical people
Ignaz Semmelweis- childbed fever- father of handwashing
Edward Jenner and Henderson- smallpox
John Snow and Cholera
Primary Prevention
Action taken to prevent the development of a disease in a person who is well and does not yet have the disease
Vaccine
Secondary Prevention
Identifying people in where a disease process has already begun but who has not yet developed clinical signs and symptoms of illness
Cancer Screening
Tertiary Prevention
Preventing complications in those who have already developed signs and symptoms of an illness and has been diagnosed
Diabetes management
Endemic
Habitual presence of a disease within a given geographical region
