Introduction Flashcards
1
Q
Epidemiology
A
Study of disease in populations, with intention to institute control
2
Q
What are the 4 aims of epidemiology?
A
- describe health status of populations
- explain etiology of disease by determining factors that cause disease and discover transmission modes
- predict number of disease occurrences, and distribution of health
- control disease and prolong productive life
3
Q
How do you describe the health status of a population?
A
- enumeration of occurrence of disease
- obtaining relative frequency in subgroups
- discovering important trends
4
Q
How do you control disease?
A
- prevention
- early identification
- reduction of existing cases
- assessment of intervention
5
Q
What are the 3 risk factors in clinical disease? (epidemiological triad)
A
- agent (bacterial, viral)
- host (immune/defense status)
- environment (housing, weather, nutrition)
6
Q
Observational study
A
Principle type of epidemiologic study
- observe and measure exposure, and observe/record outcome
- does NOT involve: administering fixed treatment, don’t control the exposure factor, are not randomizing the animals
7
Q
What are the 3 main types of observational studies?
A
- cohort
- case-control
- prevalence
8
Q
Cohort study
A
Aka: prospective study
- group of individuals exposed to a putative risk factor and a group who are unexposed to the risk factor are followed over time (often years) to determine the occurrence of disease
