What do public health workers commonly carry out?
- routine use of vaccinations
- improvements in workplace safety
- improvements to sanitation and providing clean water
- giving access to family planning
Define epidemiology
The study of the distribution and determinants of disease frequency in human populations and the application of this study to control health problems.
What are the objectives of epidemiology?
- study the natural course of diseases from onset to resolution
- determine the extent of disease in a population
- identify patterns and trends in disease occurrence
- identify the cause of disease
- evaluate the effectiveness of measures to prevent and treat disease
Define population
A group of people with a common characteristic
Eg. Place of residence, gender, age or use of certain medical services
What is disease frequency?
Quantifying how often a disease arises in a population
What steps must we take to find the disease frequency?
- Develop a definition of the disease
- Institute a mechanism for counting cases within a population
- Determine population size
What is disease distribution?
The analysis of disease patterns according to the characteristics of person, place and time.
Define disease determinants and name the two types
Factors that bring about a change in a person’s health or make a difference to their health
We can have causal and preventative factors
What is a sampling frame?
The people that you are going to target in your survey
Eg. People who live in Leicestershire, people who shop at Waitrose
Define incidence
The number of new cases of the condition in a population over a specified period of time
Units are per person per time
Define prevalence
The number of people within a population with the disease at a particular time
What is a census?
The simultaneous recording of demographic data by the government at a particular time pertaining to all the persons who live in a particular territory.
Who completes the birth notification and how long do they have to do it?
The attendant at the birth must complete it within 36 hours for the Child Health Register
Who completes the birth registration and how long do they have to do it?
The parents complete the birth registration and they have 42 days to do this with the local registrar for births.
What is the Crude Birth Rate (CBR)?
The number of live births per 1000 people
What is the General Fertility Rate (GFR)?
The number of live births per 1000 females aged 15-44 years
What is the Total [Period] Fertility Rate (TPFR)?
The average number of children that would be born to a hypothetical woman in her life.
Define fecundity
The physical ability to reproduce
What is CBR used for?
Describing the impact of births on the size of a population
What is GFR used for?
For comparing the fertility of fertile female populations
What is TPFR used for?
Competing fertility of fertile females without being influenced by age group structure
What is the main focus of public health?
Preventing illness in the community and promoting health
Who does the death registration and how long do they have to do it?
A qualified informant has 5 days to go to the local registrar for deaths
Define Crude Death Rate (CDR)
The number of deaths per 1000 people
Define Age Specific Death Rate (ASDR)
The number of deaths per 1000 people in a particular age group
What does the Standardised Mortality Ratio do?
It compares the observed number of deaths with the number expected if age-sex distributions of populations were identical
Define chance
The occurrence of events without any obvious cause
Define bias
The inclination/prejudice for or against something or someone, considered unfair
What is a confounding variable?
A variable in a statistical model that correlates with both the dependent and independent variables so may be the cause of a link between the dependent and independent.
What happens in the Pre-Clinical Phase of drug production?
Laboratory studies - pharmacology and animal toxicology
What happens in Phase 1 of drug production?
Volunteer studies
What happens in Phase 2 of drug production?
Treatment studies - find the effects and dosages needed, study common side effects
What happens in Phase 3 of drug production?
Clinical trials - comparison with standard treatments
What happens in Phase 4 of drug production?
Post-marketing surveillance - monitoring for adverse reactions and potential new uses.
Define pharmacodynamics
The study of the
- biochemical and physiological effects of drugs on the body
- mechanisms of drug action
- relationship between drug concentration and effect.
Define pharmacokinetics
A branch of pharmacology dedicated to determining the fate of substances administered externally to living organisms.
What is the formula for incidence rate?
Incidence Rate = (New Events)/(people x time(yrs))
Gives us events per person per year
What is a prevalence study?
A cross-sectional survey with no follow up.
What is the Incidence Rate Ratio formula?
IRR = (Rate (b))/ (Rate (a))
b - exposed
a - unexposed
What is the problem with using age-specific rate ratios?
We get too many answers so the results are difficult to interpret
What does the Standardised Mortality Ratio do?
It compares the level of mortality observed in a study population with the level of mortality expected if a standard reference population’s age-sex specific rates were applied to the study population.
