Chapter 5 Flashcards
(28 cards)
The basic science of public health.
Epidemiology
Greek word: epi, demos and logos
(meaning on or upon) (people) (study)
Study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems
Epidemiology
Basic epidemiology tends to rely on _________, use of valid comparison groups and the number of cases of disease in a particular area during a particular time period.
careful observation
is concerned with the frequency and pattern of health events in a population.
Epidemiology
: refers not only to the number of health events, but also to the
relationship of that number to the size of the population.
Frequency
refers to the occurrence of health-related events by time, place and
person.
Pattern
activities include characterizing health events by time, place and person.
Descriptive epidemiology
➢ Term used to denote the causes and other factors that influence the occurrence of disease and other-related events.
Determinants
➢ Focuses on communicable and non-communicable diseases
➢ With the recent explosion of molecular methods, epidemiologist can make
important strides ( examining genetic markers of the disease) .
Health-related states and events
concerned about the health of individual.
Clinician
- concerned about the collective health of the people in a community.
Epidemiologist
➢ Public health officials used epidemiologic data and methods to identify baseline, to set
health goals for the nation and to monitor progress toward these goals.
Epidemiologist
➢ Term equivalent to monitoring the pulse of the community
Surveillance
: refers to the ability of a program to produce the intended or expected results
in the field.
Effectiveness
refers to the ability of a program to produce the intended results with a
minimum expenditure of time and resources.
Efficiency
➢ Key Feature or Hallmark: valid comparison group
➢ Concerned with the search for the causes and effects or the why and the how
Analytic Epidemiology
Epidemiologist record whether
each study participant is
exposed or not, and then
tracks the participants to see
if they develop the disease of
interest.
Cohort Study
Investigator starts enrolling
a group of people with
disease and without
disease.
Case-Control Study
A sample of person from a
population is enrolled in their
exposures and health
outcomes are measured
simultaneously.
Cross-Sectional Study
5 major tasks of Epidemiology in
Public Health Practice:
a. Public Health Surveillance
b. Field Investigation
c. Analytic studies
d. Linkages
e. Policy development
refers to an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally
expected in that population in that area.
Epidemic
: carries the same definition of epidemic, but is often used for a more limited geographic area
Outbreak
refers to a disease that occurs infrequently and irregularly.
Sporadic
