Class 5 - Epidemiology Flashcards
What is epidemiology
the science of understanding the causes and distribution of population health so that we may intervene to prevent disease and promote health
Epidemiology study populations in order to…
- clarify clinical and demographic characteristics
- identify who is at risk for illness
- provide clues to causes of disease
- guides preventative measures and interventions
- monitor health of population
- identify DOH and disease in communities
- investigate and evaluate interventions to prevent disease and maintain health
What are the 2 sides of epidemiology
- descriptive
- analytical
What is the outline for descriptive epi studies
the who, what, when, and where of the health event
- what: disease, injury, death (clinical - case definition)
- who: age, gender, sociodemographic, occupation
- when: time, seasonality, secular trends
- where: place, neighborhood, city, county, census tract
- distribution: frequency of the event and pattern of the frequency
What is the outline for analytical epi studies
determinants of disease
- understand factors that influence the occurrence of health-related event (causes, risk factors, modes of transmission)
- understand the “how” and “why” aspects of the event
Epi Descriptive - describing ‘what’
Alerts to new problems:
- look for other cases
- develop new surveillance system
- propose hypothesis
Epi Descriptive - describing ‘what’ clinical info includes
- symptoms/signs (case definition)
- lab results
- hospitalization
- lived or died
Epi Descriptive - describing ‘who’ demographic info includes
age, sex, marital status
Epi Descriptive - describing ‘who’ socioeconomic info includes
- education
- occupation, income
- place of work or residence (postal codes)
Epi Descriptive - describing ‘where’ outline
- where illness began (home, vacation site)
- where exposure occurred (education, occupation, income, place of work or residence)
- source of contamination (farm, unwashed produce)
Epi Descriptive - describing ‘when’ includes
- trends (change over time, long-term trends/secular)
- patterns (cyclical trends seen over several years/seasonal)
- epidemics
What is an endemic
rate of a disease, injury, or other condition is the rate of occurrence that is usual in a population
What is an epidemic
occurs when the rate of a disease, injury, or other condition clearly exceeds the usual level for that condition
What is a pandemic
rate of a disease, injury, or other condition is the rate of its occurrence in the geographically widespread population
What is our goal with an epidemiological triad of disease
break at least 1 side of the triangle to stop the continuation of disease
What are descriptive epi studies used for
- program planning
- generating hypotheses
- suggesting ideas for further study
What are analytical epi studies used for
to test for hypotheses about the cause of disease and studying how exposure relates to disease
Types of epi studies
descriptive and analytic
Types of descriptive studies
- case report: individual case data
- case series: individual data on a group of cases
- incidence study: new cases during a specific time
Types of analytic studies
experimental (exposure is randomly assigned) and observational
Analytic studies, types of experimental studies
- clinical trial: randomization at the individual level
- community trial: randomization at the community level
Analytic studies, types of observational studies
- cohort
- case-control
- cross-sectional
- ecological
What is a cohort study
Observe groups of people who do and don’t experience an exposure, to compare how many in each group have the disease
What is a case-control study
Compares a group of people who have a disease to a similar group who don’t have a disease, and the investigator records who had exposures of interest
What is a cross-sectional study
Snapshot of a specific period in time, with the aim of finding the same kind of relationships as experimental studies; describes exposure and disease in a population at some point in time
What is an ecological study
Compares populations rather than individual, association at the group level do not always mean association at the individual level