Burden of Disease

Question 1

The Five D’s

Answer 1

Death

Disease

Disability

Discomfort

Distress

Question 2

Health Disparity/Inequality

Answer 2

An example of a health disparity/inequality is when one person has a genetic disease and another person does not. There is nothing inherently “unfair” about it, as nothing can be done about it.

Question 3

Health Inequity

Answer 3

An example of a health inequity is when one person has better health services than the other. This is something we try to address.

Question 4

Case Fatality Rate

Answer 4

Number of deaths in a year due to a particular disease / number of cases of that disease

Question 5

DALY

Answer 5

Disability-adjusted life year.

Focuses on the negative impact of disabilities in forming a weighting for adjusting life years.

DALY = YLD + YLL

Question 6

Screening Tests and Prevalence/Incidence

Answer 6

It is important to note that introducing TESTING into a community can increase the prevalence and incidence because there will be an increase in the number of new cases found in a fixed time period.

Question 7

Prevention

Answer 7

Effective prevention would decrease the incidence before an effective treatment strategy is implemented, and therefore the prevalence would also go down over time.

Question 8

Effective Treatment (NOT cure) and Incidence/Prevalence

Answer 8

If there is an effective treatment for a disease, and prevention strategies are in place, the incidence of the disease will decrease, but the prevalence will increase because people are not dying.

Question 9

Incidence:

Answer 9

Number of new cases of a disease among people at risk during a specified period of time

Question 10

Prevalence:

Answer 10

The number of existing cases of a disease in a population

Question 11

Point Prevalence

Answer 11

Number of cases of a disease at a particular time / population at a specific time

Question 12

Period Prevalence

Answer 12

Number of persons with disease at some point during a specified period (all new and old cases during period) / total population at mid-point of interval

Question 13

Incidence Risk

Answer 13

Number of new cases of a disease in a specific time period / number of at risk at the start of the time period

(Cumulative incidence)

Question 14

Incidence Rate

Answer 14

Number of new cases of a disease in a specific time period / number of person-years at risk during period

Question 15

Relative Risk

Answer 15

Incidence of disease among exposed / incidence of disease among un-exposed