Basics Flashcards
(21 cards)
Primary prevention
An action taken to prevent the development of disease in a person who is well and does not have the disease.
Eg, Vaccines
Secondary prevention
Identifying people in whom a disease process has already begun but who have not yet developed clinical signs and symptoms of illness; detect disease earlier then it would have been detected with usual care.
E.g, Colonoscopy, Mammogram
Tertiary prevention
Preventing complications in those who already developed signs and symptoms of an illness
E.g, physical therapy in those with Parkinson’s disease
Determinants
Factors that bring about change in a health condition or disease
- cause or risk factor for a disease
Indirect transmission
Occurs through a common vehicle such as contaminated air or water supply, or by a vector (such as a mosquito)
Sub clinical
Have infection but don’t show clinical symptoms; can still transmit to others
Preclinical
Disease that is not yet clinically apparent but is destined to progress to clinical disease
Endemic
The habitual presence of a disease within a given geographic area; the usual occurrence of a given disease within such an area
Epidemic
The occurrence in a community or region of a group an illness of similar nature, clearly in excess of normal expectancy
Pandemic
Worldwide epidemic
Internal validity
Absence of systematic error that causes study findings to differ from true values; rule out random error, bias, and confounding
External validity
Refers to the generalizability or study findings; study participants must be representative of the defined population.
Fixed population
Permanent, fixed, closed
Membership defined by a specific event fixed in time; never gain new members;
E.g, survivors of 9/11, born in 1980
Dynamic population
Transient, dynamic, open
Membership is defined by a changeable state or condition
E.g, Philadelphia residents
Morbidity
Disease
Mortality
Death
Counts
The number of cases of a disease; use as numerators; for most diseases count does not tell you anything about the extent of the disease in the population
Proportions
What fraction of a population is affected
Rates
Tell us how fast the disease is occurring in a population
Epidemiology
The study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease in populations
Epidemiological transition
Causes of death have shifted from infectious disease to chronic disease over the last century
