Midterm 1 Flashcards
(117 cards)
What is Epidemiology?
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution, determinants, and deterrents of morbidity and mortality in human populations
What is Behavioral Epidemiology?
- Behavioral Epidemiology is a subset of epidemiology
- Focuses on health related behaviors in populations.
- Uses patterns and their influence on population wide disease prevention/health
What is the WHO definition of “health?”
Health is the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Medical model
- Narrow understanding of health
- focuses on the absence of disease/disability
- looks at the body as an isolate (not outside factors)
- Heavily based on science/ Expert knowledge
- Puts the responsibility of health on the individual
What is Population Health?
Population health is an approach that aims to improve the health of the entire population and to reduce health inequities among population groups. It considers and acts upon the broad range of factors and conditions that have a strong influence on our health
What is a “population” in the context of population health?
A group of people or individuals with a common characteristic
Ex. Age, race, gender, Geography, life events…
What is a fixed population?
The population membership size cannot be changed because it is based on a permanent event.
Ex. your birthdate (this cannot be changed)
Ex. WW2 Survivors (you cannot become a WW2 Survivor cuz the war is over)
What is a dynamic population
A population that can increase or decrease (is changable)
what is a steady state in the context of a dynamic population
When the amount of people entering a population is equal to the amount of people leaving. There is a Net Change of ZERO
Components Investigated in Population Health
The field of population health investigates dererminants/factors (such as Health care, Individual behavious, Social environemnt, Physical enivronments and genetics) and their interactions with mean outcomes (Mortality & health related quality of life) and disparity (race/ethnicity, SES, geography & gender).
Different types of Health Research
- Basic Research: Studies cells, tissues, and animals in laboratory settings with the goal of understanding disease mechanisms and the effects of toxic substances. Examples include toxicology and immunology.
- Clinical Research: Studies sick patients who come to health care facilities with the goal of improving diagnosis and treatment of disease. Examples include internal medicine and pediatrics.
- Population Health Research: Studies populations or communities at large with the goal of preventing disease and promoting health. Examples include epidemiology and environmental health science.
Population health research aims at prevention of disease and promotion of health, whereas clinical research focuses on improving diagnosis and treatment and basic research focuses on understanding disease mechanisms
Why is the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion important?
The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986) was developed at the first international conference on health promotion and focused on broader social, economic, and environmental factors
What five action areas of the ottawa charter for health promotion?
- Strengthen Community Action: Developing programs or networks (e.g., after-school physical activity program led by university students).
- Develop Personal Skills: Health literacy/education (e.g., media literacy initiative in a school).
- Build Healthy Public Policy: Implementing legislation or taxation (e.g., tax sugar-sweetened beverages).
- Create Supportive Environments: Changing natural or built environment (e.g., building new bike lanes).
- Reorient Health Services: Increasing infrastructure and resources (e.g., investment in city-wide health promotion campaign).
Which Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion are on the individual level and the population level
What is the difference between population health and public health?
- Population health and public health are subtly different. Public health involves activities (e.g., programs and services) organized and carried out typically by various levels of government to protect, promote, and restore the health of citizens (e.g., Public Health Agency of Canada, Alberta Health Services)
- Population health is an approach that aims to improve the health of the entire population and to reduce health inequities among population groups. It considers and acts upon the broad range of factors and conditions that have a strong influence on our health
What is the difference between disease and illness? which one does epidemology reasearch focus on and why?
- Disease is defined as abnormal, medically defined changes in the structure or functioning of the human body.
- Illness (or sickness) is the individual’s experience or subjective perception of lack of physical or mental well-being and consequent inability to function normally in social roles.
- Population health focuses on disease, although it may be hard to focus on due to its subjectivity
What are the two primary types of disease?
- Infectious or communicable disease
- Non-infectious, non-communicable, or chronic disease
Define infectious diseases and what is the differences between outbreak,
epidemic, and pandemic.
- Infectious diseases are due to a specific infectious agent or its toxic products that arise through transmission of that agent or its products from an infected person, animal, or reservoir to a susceptible host. An example is Covid-19.
- Outbreak: Occurrence of new cases in excess of baseline in a localized area (e.g., institution, city).
- Epidemic: Occurrence of new cases in excess of baseline across a country or a number of countries.
- Pandemic: Crossing many international boundaries and affects a large number of people.
Are infectious diseases a major cause of mortality in developed countries? Why / why not?
Infectious diseases are not a major cause of mortality in developed countries over the last four to five decades. Mortality is typically restricted to the very young, the elderly, and the infirm. An exception to this was Covid-19 because those who were affected did not always fit into those three categories.
Define chronic diseases! What are the 4 main behavioral risk factors associated with them?
- Chronic diseases are non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that are not passed from person to person. They are of long duration and generally slow progression.
Four main behavioral risk factors:
* Tobacco Use
* Unhealthy Diet
* Insufficient physical activity
* Harmful use of alcohol
What is the life course approach to chronic diseases? Why is it
important?
Life-Course Approach: Ageing is an important marker of the accumulation of modifiable risk factors for chronic disease, and the impact of risk factors increases over the life course. Interventions early in life have the potential to substantially reduce chronic diseases
What are the points discussed in relation to the graphs about total deaths and chronic diseases in countries of different incomes
Chronic diseases are leading causes of death globally, killing more people each year than all other causes combined. A large percentage of deaths from chronic disease occur in low- and middle-income countries
What is risk transition? What does it mean in relation to the types of disease
that are more prevalent in a country?
As a country develops, the types of diseases that affect a population shift from primarily infectious to primarily chronic. This is due to improvements in medical care, public health interventions, and the ageing of the population
What are the 3 levels of prevention? What are the differences between them?
Which group (s) does each level of prevention target?
- Primary Prevention: Aims to prevent disease before it starts through maintenance of health via individual or community efforts. It targets the general population before a person gets the disease.
- Secondary Prevention: Focuses on early detection to reduce the expression and severity of disease. It identifies asymptomatic individuals, delaying the onset and duration of clinical disease. This level targets subgroups, such as those at risk for type II diabetes.
- Tertiary Prevention: Seeks to slow the progression of a disease, reduce impairments and disabilities, and prevent complications after a clinical diagnosis has been made. It targets diseased subgroups with symptoms.