Finals Pre-Test Flashcards
(24 cards)
the study of the occurrence and distribution of diseases and the determinants of health states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to control health problems. It looks at patterns (person, place, time) and causes of diseases, focusing on populations rather than individuals.
Epidemiology
Focuses on the distribution of health-related states in terms of age, gender, race, geography, and time. It describes what, where, when, and who without testing a hypothesis.
Descriptive Epidemiology
Explains the determinants of health events by testing hypotheses. It focuses on the why and how, often comparing groups over time.
Analytical Epidemiology
An analytic, prospective, and manipulative study where the investigator assigns and manipulates exposure to test its effect on an outcome. It uses control and intervention groups.
Experimental Epidemiology
Subjects are individual patients. The investigator randomly assigns treatments to patients to test therapeutic or preventive effects.
Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs)
Interventions are assigned to individuals in a community who do not yet have the disease but are at risk.
Field Trials
Entire communities are the units of analysis and are assigned interventions.
Community Trials
A factor (event, condition, or characteristic) that may influence the occurrence of a disease.
Exposure
The disease or health-related condition that is the result of the exposure.
Outcome
The number of new cases of a disease in a population during a specific time period.
Incidence
The total number of cases (new + existing) of a disease at a specific point or period.
Prevalence
Proportion of individuals with a condition at a specific point in time.
Point Prevalence
Proportion of individuals who had the condition at any time during a specific period.
Period Prevalence
any characteristic or attribute that can be measured or classified. In epidemiology, variables can refer to things like age, sex, exposure status, or outcome status.
Variable
what are the Variable by Measurement Scale
Nominal: Categorical with no order (e.g., blood type).
Ordinal: Categorical with a ranked order (e.g., cancer stage).
Interval: Numerical with no true zero (e.g., temperature in Celsius).
Ratio: Numerical with a true zero (e.g., height, weight).
What you manipulate or observe to see its effect.
Independent Variable (Exposure)
The result or effect being measured.
Dependent Variable (Outcome)
A third variable that affects both the independent and dependent variable, possibly distorting the observed association.
Confounding Variable
Variability due to chance, affects precision and can be minimized by increasing sample size.
Random Error
Consistent error in measurement or data collection; affects accuracy and internal validity. Includes selection bias, information bias, and confounding.
Systematic Error (Bias)
Randomly assigning subjects to study groups to equally distribute confounders and reduce selection bias.
Randomization
Keeping participants and/or researchers unaware of group assignments to reduce information bias.
Blinding (Masking)
Used in case-control studies; compares the odds of exposure in cases vs. controls.
Odds Ratio (OR)
Used in cohort studies and RCTs; compares the risk of disease in exposed vs. unexposed groups.
Relative Risk (RR)
