Chapter 12 Flashcards
Agent
causative factor invading a susceptible host through an environment favorable to produce disease, such as a biological or chemical agent
Analytic Epidemiology
an epidemiological study designed to investigate associations between exposures or characteristics and health or disease outcomes, often with a goal of understanding the etiology (or origins and causal factors) of disease
Attack Rate
a type of incidence rate defined as the proportion of persons exposed to an agent who develop the disease, usually for a limited time in a specific population
- Another measure of morbidity, often used in infectious disease
investigations,
Bias
a systematic deviation of observed values from the true value
Case-control Design
can be viewed against the background of an underlying cohort. The design uses a sample from the cohort rather than following the entire cohort over time. Because it uses only samples of cases and non cases, it is a more efficient design, although it is subject to certain types of bias
Case-control Study
participants are enrolled because they are known to have the outcome of interest (cases) or they are known not to have the outcome of interest (controls)
Case Fatality Rate (CFR)
the proportion of persons diagnosed with a particular disorder (i.e., cases) that die within a specified period of time
Cohort Study
an epidemiological study in which subjects without an outcome of interest are classified according to past or present (or future) exposures or characteristics and followed over time to observe and compare the rates of some health outcome in the various exposure groups
Cross-sectional Study
an epidemiological study in which health outcomes and exposures or characteristics of interest are simultaneously ascertained and examined for association in a population or sample, providing a picture of existing levels of all factors
Cumulative Incidence Rate
reflects the cumulative effect of the incidence rate over the time period, whether it is a month, a year, or several years
Descriptive Epidemiology
an epidemiological study designed to describe the distribution of health outcomes according to person, place, and time
Determinants
factors that influence the risk for or distribution of health outcomes
Distribution
the pattern of a health outcome in a population; the frequencies of the outcome according to various personal characteristics, geographic regions, and time
Ecologic Fallacy
a bias that may occur in ecologic studies because associations observed at the group level may not hold true for the individuals that compose the groups, or associations that actually exist may be masked
Ecologic Model
this approach expands epidemiologic studies both upward to broader contexts (such as neighborhood characteristics and social context) and downward to the genetic and molecular level
Ecologic Study
an epidemiologic study in which only aggregate or group data, such as population rates, are used rather than data on individuals
Environment
all of those factors internal and external to the client that constitute the context in which the client lives and that influence and are influenced by the host and agent-host interactions. The sum of all external conditions affecting the life, development, and survival of an organism
Epidemic
occurrence of a disease within an area that is clearly in excess of expected levels (endemic) for a given time period
Epidemiologic Triangle
interaction among the host, agent, and environment
Epidemiology
study of the distribution of disease, or other health-related states and events in human populations, as related to age, sex, occupation, ethnicity, and economic status in order to identify and alleviate health problems and promote better health
Health
a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Four models of health, ordered from narrow to broad, are (1) clinical health, the absence of disease; (2) role-performance health, the ability to satisfactorily perform one’s social roles; (3) adaptive health, flexible adaptation to the environment; and (4) eudaemonistic health, self-actualization and the attainment of one’s greatest human potential
Host
a living organism, human or animal, in which an infectious agent can exist under natural conditions
Incidence Proportion
the frequency or rate of new cases of an outcome in a population; provides an estimate of the risk of disease in that population over the period of observation
- indicates the
proportion of the population at risk who experience the event
over some period of time, for example, the proportion of
the population who develop influenza during a given year
Levels of Prevention
a three-level model of interventions based on the stages of disease, designed to prevent, halt, or reverse the process of pathological change as early as possible, thereby preventing damage
Mortality Rates
key epidemiological indicators of interest to nurses. Mortality rates are informative only for fatal diseases and do not provide direct information about either the level of existing disease in the population or the risk of getting any particular disease
Natural History of Disease
the course of a disease process from onset to resolution without intervention by humans
Negative Predictive Value
proportion of persons with a negative test who are disease free
Point Epidemic
a concentration in space and time of a disease event, such that a graph of frequency of cases over time shows a sharp point, usually suggestive of a common exposure
Popular Epidemiology
a form of epidemiology in which lay people gather scientific data as well as mobilize knowledge and resources of experts to understand the occurrence and distribution of a disease or injury
Positive Predictive Value
the proportion of persons with a positive screening or diagnostic test who do have the disease (the proportion of “true positives” among all who test positive).
Prevalence Proportion
a measure of existing disease in a population at a particular time (i.e., the number of existing cases divided by the current population).
Proportion
a type of ratio in which the denominator includes the numerator
Proportionate Mortality Ratio (PMR)
the proportion of all deaths that are attributable to a specific cause
Public Health
organized community efforts designed to prevent disease and promote health
Rate
measure of the frequency of a health event in a defined population during a specified period of time
Reliability
the precision of the measure; its consistency or repeatability
Risk
the probability of some event or outcome within a specified period of time
Screening
identifies individuals with unrecognized health risk factors or asymptomatic disease conditions in populations
Secular Trends
long-term patterns of morbidity or mortality (i.e., over years or decades)
Sensitivity
the proportion of persons who actually have a disease who will have a positive screening or diagnostic test; or the probability that a person with a disease will be correctly classified by the test
Social Epidemiology
the branch of epidemiology that studies the social distribution and social determinants of health and disease
Specificity
the proportion of persons who do not have a disease and who will have a negative screening or diagnostic test, or the probability that a person without disease will be correctly classified by the test.
Surveillance
involves the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to the occurrence of disease and the health status of a given population
Validity
the accuracy of a test or measurement; how closely it measures what it claims to measure. In a screening test, validity is assessed in terms of the probability of correctly classifying an individual with regard to the disease or outcome of interest, usually in terms of sensitivity and specificity
Web of Causality
the complex interrelations of factors interacting with each other to influence the risk for or distribution of health outcomes
Incidence Rate
quantifies the rate of development of new cases in a population
at risk
