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Epidemiology > Descriptive, cross sectional and ecological studies. > Flashcards

Descriptive, cross sectional and ecological studies. Flashcards

1
Q

What is the ‘Epidemiological transition’?

A

Replacement of infectious diseases with chronic diseases over time.

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2
Q

Descriptive studies can define patterns in terms of ___, _____ and ___.

A

Time, person, place.

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3
Q

What can you not do with a case report?

A

Make any causal inference.

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4
Q

What occurs after a case series?

A

Investigation into medical history and circumstances to find clues for a potential cause and a potential causal hypothesis.

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5
Q

Once a potential hypothesis has been generated from a case series what must you do?

A

Analytically test the potential hypothesis.

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6
Q

Case series and reports are often published. What do these publications contain?

A

Information on how to treat them.

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7
Q

What is the other name for ecological studies?

A

Correlation studies.

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8
Q

What level do ecological studies work at?

A

Aggregate level.

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9
Q

Ecological studies can occur geographically and over what sort of interval?

A

Time interval.

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10
Q

What is ecological fallacy?

A

When group associations do not lead to individual level associations. (Also known as ecological bias and aggregation bias).

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11
Q

When are ecological studies useful?

A

When the variable of interest occurs at the population level.

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12
Q

Name three things that can be investigated in an ecological study.

A
  1. Food availability.
  2. Socioeconomic status and health.
  3. Effect of tax intervention on policy.
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13
Q

When are ecological studies not ideal.

A

When variability in a population is large.

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14
Q

Name four disadvantages of an ecological study.

A
  1. Ecological fallacy.
  2. Secondary data from different sources may not be comparable.
  3. Disease occurrence could proceed exposure.
  4. Collinerality.
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15
Q

What is collinerality?

A

Some sociodeomographic and environmental variable are more highly populated at the group level rather than the individual level.

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16
Q

Name five advantages of an ecological study.

A
  1. Relatively inexpensive.
  2. No follow up.
  3. High risk demographics targeted,
  4. Some environmental factors can be hard to measure at the individual level.
  5. Creates hypothesis about disease aetiology.
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17
Q

What is studied at the same time in cross sectional studies?

A

Exposure and outcome.

18
Q

Cross sectional studies are always descriptive. True or False?

A

False, they are sometimes analytical.

19
Q

What can you not calculate from cross sectional studies and why?

A

Incidence proportions and incidence rates. You can not calculate these as both require you to know follow up time.

20
Q

Who often conducts cross sectional studies?

A

Government bodies.

21
Q

What are cross sectional studies good at estimating?

A

Population burden of disease.

22
Q

Why are cross sectional studies less biased then other types of studies?

A

Looks at general population instead of just those seeking medical care. You still however may not reach the entire population.

23
Q

For a cross sectional study to be useful what should the exposure be?

A

Constant.

24
Q

Why are cross sectional studies often cheap and easy?

A

Data is often publicly available.

25
Q

You cannot determine if an exposure proceeds a disease in ecological studies, but you can in cross sectional studies. True or false?

A

False.

26
Q

What sort of factors are cross sectional studies dependant on?

A

Survival factors.

27
Q

Routine data is recorded for administrative purposes. What is a disadvantage of this (2)?

A
  1. It is recorded with no specific research question in mind meaning variables may not be suitably defined for analysis.
  2. Recording massively varies between countries (as well as disease classification).
28
Q

What can be estimated from routine data?

A

Time frames and magnitude of health problems.

29
Q

What sort of studies allow prospective data to be linked for follow up purposes?

A

Aeitological studies.

30
Q

Apart from being relatively cheap what are 5 advantages of using routine data.

A
  1. Data has already been collected.
  2. Collection procedures are standardised.
  3. Data is available for consecutive years.
  4. Experience in their use and interpretation.
  5. Data is relatively comprehensive.
31
Q

How often is the census conducted in the UK?

A

Every 10 years.

32
Q

One drawback of the consensus is that you will never get 100% coverage. True or False?

A

False. The coverage in the UK in 2001 was 98% with the remaining 2% being focused on specific social groups. This could be adjusted for in analysis.

33
Q

What can the census data be used for (4 things)?

A
  1. Denominators for rates.
  2. Service planning.
  3. Information on social class.
  4. Information on ethnicity.
34
Q

Hospital activity data has been coded for using the ICD code since the 1991 financial year. What does this report on?

A

Episodes of a disease- not a person.

35
Q

What issues arise when using hospital activity data (5 things)?

A
  1. Confidentiality issues.
  2. Non disease status can influence admission.
  3. Hospital characteristics may differ.
  4. Patient characteristics may differ.
  5. reporting may differ.
36
Q

Hospital characteristics may differ when using hospital activity data. Why does this matter?

A

As bed number, admissions policy and specialist units may influence the number of episodes of a disease that a hospital sees.

37
Q

How many diseases are on the notifiable disease list in the UK?

A

32.

38
Q

Some diseases in the UK are on the ‘notifiable disease list’. What else can be on this list?

A

Cases of contamination/poisoning.

39
Q

Only cases that die of a notifiable disease are reported . True or false?

A

False. If a patient dies with a notifiable disease (but not of) a notifiable it will still be reported.

40
Q

Data from the hospital administration systems, local registries, death certificates and pathology labs all contribute to the cancer registry. What is the main problem in regards to this registry?

A

Incomplete ascertainment.

41
Q

Name 7 uses of routine data.

A
  1. Surveillance and monitoring.
  2. Health care research.
  3. Initial investigation of clusters.
  4. Hypothesis generating.
  5. Estimation of disease burden.
  6. Descriptive studies.
  7. Ecological studies.

Epidemiology (14 decks)

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