12 - Epidemiology Flashcards
Voters have recently decided to have fluoride added to the city water system. Epidemiologists now want to study the effect of fluoride on dental caries in this population. Which of the following would be conducted by the epidemiologists?
a. ) Ecological study
b. ) Double-blind study
c. ) Community trial
d. ) Screening
c.) Community trial
A community trial is similar to a clinical trial, but the issue is often health promotion and disease prevention rather than treatment of existing disease.
An ecological model considers the multiple factors that contribute to disease development.
A double-blind study is one in which neither the subject nor the investigator knows who is receiving the treatment.
A screening involves the testing of groups of individuals who are at risk for a certain condition but are not yet symptomatic.
A nurse is told that a screening test has high specificity. Which of the following is the best interpretation of this information?
a. ) The test provides precise and consistent readings.
b. ) The test accurately identifies those with the condition or trait.
c. ) The test accurately identifies those without the trait.
d. ) The test has a high level of false positives.
c.) The test accurately identifies those without the trait.
Specificity refers to the test accurately identifying those without the trait. High specificity is needed when rescreening is impractical and when reduction of false positives is important. The test would have a low level of false positives.
A PHN conducts an immunization clinic for measles. Which of the following is being implemented?
a. ) Primary prevention
b. ) Secondary prevention
c. ) Tertiary prevention
d. ) Health promotion
a.) Primary prevention
Primary prevention refers to those interventions aimed at preventing the occurrence of disease, injury, or disability. Immunizations are an example of primary prevention.
Secondary prevention interventions are designed to increase the probability that a person with a disease will have that condition diagnosed at a stage when treatment is likely to result in cure.
Tertiary prevention includes interventions aimed at disability limitation and rehabilitation from disease, injury, or disability.
Health promotion is a specific primary prevention strategy.
As a result of an outbreak of influenza in a community, a nurse encourages members of the community to receive the influenza vaccine. Which of the following levels of prevention is being used?
a. ) Primary prevention
b. ) Secondary prevention
c. ) Tertiary prevention
d. ) Multifactorial prevention
Nurses are involved in epidemiologic surveillance by monitoring the potential for disease outbreaks. Primary prevention refers to interventions aimed at preventing the occurrence of disease, injury, or disability. Immunizations are an example of primary prevention.
Secondary prevention interventions are designed to increase the probability that a person with a disease will have that condition diagnosed at a stage when treatment is likely to result in cure.
Tertiary prevention includes interventions aimed at disability limitation and rehabilitation from disease, injury, or disability.
Multifactorial prevention is not possible with a disease like influenza, which has one cause.
The most important predictor of overall mortality is:
a. ) race.
b. ) age.
c. ) gender.
d. ) income.
b.) age.
The mortality curve by age drops sharply during and after the first year of life to a low point in childhood, then begins to increase through adolescence and young adulthood and then increases sharply through middle and older ages. Race, gender, and income are not the most important predictor for overall mortality.
A PHN implements a primary prevention intervention in the community. Which of the following is most likely being implemented?
a. ) Pap smear
b. ) Blood pressure screening
c. ) Diet and exercise
d. ) Physical therapy
c.) Diet and exercise
Primary prevention refers to those interventions aimed at preventing the occurrence of disease, injury, or disability. Blood pressure screening and pap smears are secondary prevention interventions. Physical therapy is a tertiary prevention intervention.
John Snow is called the “father of epidemiology” because of his work with:
a. ) cholera.
b. ) malaria.
c. ) polio.
d. ) germ theory.
a.) cholera.
John Snow investigated the spread of cholera in the mid-nineteenth century. John Snow did not investigate the other examples.
A nurse is investigating a serious epidemic of influenza. Which of the following best describes the amount of cases that are being examined?
a. ) 50 cases
b. ) 100 cases
c. ) 500 cases
d. ) Unable to determine
d.) Unable to determine
One cannot tell the degree of seriousness without a denominator, which represents the total population.
An epidemiologist wants to know what caused severe diarrhea and vomiting in several people at a local banquet. Which of the following principles is being applied in this situation?
a. ) Descriptive epidemiology
b. ) Analytic epidemiology
c. ) Distribution
d. ) Determinants
b.) Analytic epidemiology
Analytic epidemiology is directed toward understanding the etiology of the disease.
Descriptive epidemiology seeks to describe the occurrence of a disease in terms of person, place, and time.
Distribution describes who has the disease and where and when the disease occurs.
Determinants are the factors, exposures, characteristics, and behaviors that determine patterns of disease, which may be individual, relational, social, communal, or environmental.
To understand the causes of health and disease, epidemiology studies:
a. ) individuals.
b. ) families.
c. ) groups.
d. ) populations.
d.) populations.
Epidemiology monitors health of populations, understands determinants of health and disease in communities, and investigates and evaluates interventions to prevent disease and maintain health. Epidemiology does not focus on individuals, families, and groups.
Which statement is true about mortality rates? Mortality rates:
a. ) are informative only for fatal diseases.
b. ) provide information about existing disease in the population.
c. ) are calculated using a population estimate at year-end.
d. ) reveal the risk of getting a particular disease.
a.) are informative only for fatal diseases.
Mortality rates are informative only for fatal diseases and do not provide direct information about the level of existing disease or the risk of getting a particular disease. Because the population changes during the course of a year, typically an estimate of the population at midyear is taken as the denominator for annual rates, because the midyear population approximates the amount of person-time contributed by the population during a given year.
A nurse who is studying chronic disease considers the multifactorial etiology of illness. What does this imply?
a. ) Genetics and molecular structure of disease is paramount.
b. ) Single organisms that cause a disease, such as cholera, must be studied in more detail
c. ) Focus should be on the factors or combinations and levels of factors contributing to disease.
d. ) The recent rise in infectious disease is the main focus.
c.) Focus should be on the factors or combinations and levels of factors contributing to disease.
Multifactorial etiology implies a focus on combinations and levels of factors. There are many factors to consider other than only genetics or single organisms with multifactorial etiologies. The focus of studying multifactorial etiology is on chronic disease.
An intervention that focuses on the tertiary level of prevention is implemented by the nurse? Which of the following did the nurse most likely complete?
a. ) Rehabilitative job training
b. ) Parenting education
c. ) Testicular self-examination
d. ) Family counseling
a.) Rehabilitative job training
Tertiary prevention includes those interventions aimed at disability limitation and rehabilitation from disease, injury, or disability. Rehabilitative job training would be an example of tertiary prevention. Parenting education is an example of primary prevention. Testicular self-examination and family counseling are examples of secondary prevention.
A nurse states that he has incorporated epidemiology into his practice and functions in epidemiologic roles. Which of the following best describes the actions taken by the nurse? (Select all that apply.)
a. ) Policy making
b. ) Collection, reporting, analysis, and interpretation of data
c. ) Environmental risk communication
d. ) Documentation on patient charts and records
e. ) Law enforcement
b.) Collection, reporting, analysis, and interpretation of data
c.) Environmental risk communication
d.) Documentation on patient charts and records
Collection, reporting, analysis, and interpretation of data, environmental risk communication, and documentation on patient charts and records are examples of the use of epidemiology in practice. Policy making and law enforcement do not apply to epidemiology.
The factors, exposures, characteristics, and behaviors that determine patterns of disease are described using:
a. ) descriptive epidemiology.
b. ) analytic epidemiology.
c. ) distribution.
d. ) determinants.
d.) determinants.
Determinants are the factors, exposures, characteristics, and behaviors that determine patterns of disease, which may be individual, relational, social, communal, or environmental. Descriptive epidemiology seeks to describe the occurrence of a disease in terms of person, place, and time. Analytic epidemiology focuses on the investigation of causes and associations. Distribution describes who has the disease and where and when the disease occurs.
