1. What is Epidemiology? Chapter - I

Question 1

Define Epidemiology.

Answer 1

Study of distribution (spread) and determinants (cause) of health status in a population of interest.

Question 2

Objectives of Epidemiology (5)

Answer 2

1. Identify Etiology (cause) of the disease
2. Establish burden of disease
3. Describe the natural history of the disease
4. Program evaluation: evaluate effectiveness of prevention and intervention programs
5. Inform public health decision makers.

Question 3

Epidemic

Answer 3

Epidemic: Disease level excess to normal; Localized spreaddisease”). Epidemic is defined as the occurrence in a community or region of a group of illnesses of similar nature,
clearly in excess of normal expectancy and derived from a common or a propagated source.

Question 4

Risk Factor

Answer 4

Certain population are pre-disposed to a disease, certain are immune; Risk factors - increases the risk of acquiring a disease due to their pre-disposed attribute, character or exposure. e.g. lifestyle, age, gender, SEC, race etc.

Question 5

Diagnosis

Answer 5

Process of determining exact character of a disease for treatment purpose

Question 6

Prognosis

Answer 6

Forecast of the course a disease might take - knowledge beforehand of the situation on how it might turn out

Question 7

Modifiable risk factor vs Non-modifiable risk factor

Answer 7

Modifiable - lifestyle, diet, something under control of the individual
Non-modifiable - what they are born with e.g. race, gender, age

Question 8

Types of Prevention

Answer 8

Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Upstream

Question 9

Primary prevention

Answer 9

Person does not have the disease ; Prevent the initiation of the disease, before the onset e.g. Immunization, healthy eating

Question 10

Secondary Prevention

Answer 10

Disease process has already begun but not yet developed symptoms (pre-clinical phase) Detection and intervention at an early stage; breast cancer screening, colonscopy

Question 11

Tertiary Prevention

Answer 11

Disease has already set in, diagnosis has been made, (clinical phase -observation and treatment) reduce the impact with palliative care, surgery or ancillary care (physiotherapy)

Question 12

Upstream Prevention

Answer 12

Focus on the determinants of health at policy level, how could we have prevented it from happening in the first place

Question 13

What are the approaches to prevention?

Answer 13

Population based: widely applied to entire population, e.g. dietary advice for preventing obesity ; relatively inexpensive and non-invasive

High-risk: Target high risk with specific preventative methods; can be expensive and invasive

Question 14

Endemic

Answer 14

Habitual presence of a diseasse in a certain geographic area; also called background rate of the disease; Disease level slow, steady, predictable level constant presence
Localized spread

Question 15

Pandemic

Answer 15

Refers to the world wide epidemice. Disease level Sudden increase, person to person transmission, widespread geographic area, countries and continents