Cornerstones of epidemiology: Observational studies and routine data

Question 1

What is routine data?

Answer 1

Data that are routinely collected and recorded in an ongoing systematic way, often for administrative or statutory purposes and without any specific research question in mind at the time of collection

Question 2

What are the types of routine data?

Answer 2

Health outcome data- deaths, hospital admissions, primary care consultations or prescriptions

Exposures and health determinant data
Demographic data
Geographical data

Question 3

What are advantages of routine data?

Answer 3

Cheap, already collected, standardised collection procedures, comprehensive, wide range of recorded items, available for past years, experience in use and interpretation

Question 4

What are disadvantages of routine data?

Answer 4

May not answer the Q, incomplete ascertainment, variable quality and validity, disease labels vary over time, coding changes= artifactual changes in rates

Question 5

What are the major sources of routine data on health and illness in the UK?

Answer 5

Mortality, cancer registrations, notification of infectious diseases, terminations of pregnancy, congenital anomalies, hospital episode stats, GP data- QOF, road traffic accidents

Question 6

What is QOF?

Answer 6

Quality and outcomes framework has been a component of GP contracts from 2004.
o QOF rewards practices for the provision of quality care, and helps to fund further improvements in the delivery of clinical care
o Collected in a national database system: Quality Management Analysis System
o Practice-level data are published; being phased out in many areas’

Question 7

Define standardised mortality ratios

Answer 7

It is a method for comparing death rates. It represents the ratio of the number of observed deaths (or cases of disease) (O) in a particular population to the number that would be expected (E), if that population had the same mortality or morbidity experience as a standard population, corrected for differences in age(and sex) structure.

Question 8

How do you calculate SMR?

Answer 8

No. of observed death/ No. of expected death if experienced the same age specific rates as standard population

Question 9

What are the 5 most common cancers in the UK?

Answer 9

Breast, Lung, Large bowel, prostate, bladder