3 - Epidemiology Flashcards
(26 cards)
epidemiology is considered the basic science of public health because
it is a quantitative basic science
it uses causal reasoning to test hypotheses related to occurrence and prevention of morbidity/mortality
it is a tool for public health action
epidemiology concerned with the _____, ______, and _____ of health related states or events in a population
occurrence, distribution, and determinants
t/f - when discussing the concerns of environmental epidemiology - “disease” may also mean injuries, disability, or death which may be the result of ones environment or occupation
true
main use of epidemiology with regards to environmental public health
search for the causal relationship between an exposure and a disease or an event (analytical epidemiology)
what is environmental epidemiology
study of diseases and health conditions occurring in the population that are linked to environmental factors
what are the four objectives of epidemiology related to environmental public health
determine the extent of disease in a popuylation based on an environmental concern
identify patterns and trends in disease occurrence
identify the causes of disease
evaluate the effectiveness of measures that prevent and treat disease
Epidemiologic triad of disease
triad of interaction between the host, infectious or other type of agent, and environment.
the environment promotes the exposure to the agent.
the agent could be an infectious pathogen, or. a chemical or physical threat
three main historical figures in environmental epidemiology
Hippocrates - described disease as caused by environmental and host factors not the supernatural
sir percival pott - noted the large amount of chimney sweepers who contracted scrotal cancer - identified soot as the causal factor
john snow - conducted an epidemiologic investigation to find the source of cholera - contaminated water source
Doll and Hill’s study of lung cancer was one of the first _____ studies
case-control
three criteria for appraising research necessity
validity of the study
importance of the results
applicability
incidence rate
incidence rate - number of new cases of a disease that occur during a specified period of time in a population at risk
prevalence rate
number of affected persons present in the population at a specific time divided by the number of people in the population at that time
(the proportion of the population affected by the disease at that. time)
what are the two types of epidemiological studies and what are they used for
descriptive - characterize the amount and distribution of disease in a population - develop a hypothesis like who, when, where, what
analytic - test the hypothesis and find the cause. answers the how and why
during a cross sectional study, what are the four possible groups for exposure and disease
exposed and have disease
exposed without disease
not exposed, has disease
not exposed, do not have disease
causation requires association, association does not require causation - true or false
true
if an observed association is true, is it causal?
no - it could be due to a confounding variable
direct causal factor
causes the outcome without any intermediate effects
what epidemiological example is a necessary and sufficient causal factor
rabies - to get rabies you must have been bit by a rapid animal
while not officially part of the epidemiologic triad of disease, a _____ is often involved in disease transmission
vector
efficacy
does the agent/intervention work under ideal laboratory conditions
ex - the agent works in a lab controlled setting
effectiveness
if you use the agent/intervention in a real life scenario, will it work
ex - if an oral medication has a really bad taste, no one will use it so it is ineffective
efficiency
is an effective agent efficient from a cost-benefit perspective, is it possible to get the same results in a. less expensive manner
what are the seven uses of epidemiology
divided into two
Health status/services:
1. study the history of the health of populations
- diagnose the health of the community
- examine the working of health services
disease etiology:
4. estimate individual risk and chances
- identify syndromes
- complete the clinical picture
- search for causes and prevention
in a cross-sectional study your starting point is
a defined population
you then gather data on exposure and disease and sort people into four groups (exposed, have disease; exposed, no disease,….)
