Biostats 5

Question 1

What are Epidemiological studies?

Answer 1

typically examine associations between an exposure variable and a health outcome.

Question 2

What is the “Bradford Hill criteria”?

Answer 2

framework for assessing the causal nature of an observed association

Question 3

Prevalence depends on what two variables?

Answer 3

incidence and duration

Question 4

Male lung cancer death rates peaked in what year in the US?

Answer 4

early 1990s. Has continually declined since

Question 5

Female lung cancer death rates peaked in what year in the US?

Answer 5

early 2000s

Question 6

Which race suffers most from lung cancer (males only)?

Answer 6

african americans. Same with prostate cancer

Question 7

Describe the trend in stomach cancer in men over the past 100 years. In women?

Answer 7

continuous decrease from about 45/100,000 to today having about 7/100,000.

Same trend in women but slightly less prevalent

Question 8

Describe the trend in colon and rectum cancer in men over the past 100 years.

Answer 8

fairly constant around 25-30/100,000

Question 9

Describe the trend in pancreatic and liver cancer and leukemia in men over the past 100 years.

Answer 9

constant at about 10/100,000

Question 10

Describe the trend in lung cancer in men over the past 100 years.

Answer 10

massive rise in the 1970s-80s due to smoking but decreasing now

Question 11

Which is more prevalent today in women, lung or breast cancer?

Answer 11

breast, but lung kills more

Question 12

Are Americans pussies when it comes to dying from cigarettes like Great Britain and Finland?

Answer 12

Hell no, we consume the most cigarettes but have relatively low death rates.

Question 13

What are the strengths of a Case Control Study?

Answer 13

Quick, inexpensive

Appropriate for diseases with long latent periods

Optimal for study of rare diseases

Evaluate multiple etiologic factors of one disease

Question 14

What are the limitations of case control studies?

Answer 14

Inefficient for study of rare exposures

Inability to calculate incidence rates directly

Questionable temporal relationship, Exp and Dis

Prone to bias, selection and recall

Question 15

What are the strengths of a cohort study?

Answer 15

Useful for study of rare exposures

Able to study multiple effects of single exposure

Definite temporal relationship between Exp and Disease

Able to minimize bias in ascertainment of Exp

Direct calculation of incidence in Exp and non Exp

Question 16

What are the weaknesses of a cohort study?

Answer 16

Inefficient for the study of rare diseases

If prospective, expensive and lengthy

If retrospective, need adequate records

Validity affected by losses to follow-up