Descriptive Epidemiology

Question 1

adjusted mortality rates

Answer 1

mortality rates that take the weighted average of the specific mortality rates to eliminate distributions among different populations.

Question 2

attack rate/incidence proportion

Answer 2

the proportion of the population that develops an illness during an outbreak.

Question 3

case definitions

Answer 3

a set of standard criteria for classifying whether a person has a particular disease, syndrome or health condition. Ensures every case is equivalent.

Question 4

case fatality rate

Answer 4

the rate/proportion of persons with a disease who die from it.

Question 5

cause-specific morbidity rate

Answer 5

the morbidity rate from a specified cause for a population. # cases from cause/population at midpoint of time period.

Question 6

cause-specific mortality rate

Answer 6

mortality rate from a specififed cause for a population. # deaths from cause/population at midpoint of time period.

Question 7

cause-specific survival rate

Answer 7

survival rate from a specified cause for a population. # survivors from cause/population at midpoint of time period.

Question 8

CDC

Answer 8

center for disease control;

Question 9

cluster

Answer 9

aggregation of cases in a given area over a particular period without regard to whether the number of cases is more than expected.

Question 10

common source outbreak

Answer 10

an outbreak that is continuous, but is not repeated or propagated. Does not include person to person contact, and all persons receive disease from a common source.

Question 11

crude morbidity rate

Answer 11

morbidity rate from all causes of morbidity for a population. morbidity/total population.

Question 12

crude mortality rate

Answer 12

mortality rate from all causes of death for a population. mortality/total population.

Question 13

cumulative incidence

Answer 13

synonym for incidence proportion; is the proportion of an initially disease-free population that develops a disease over a period of time. # new cases during period/size of population at start of period.

Question 14

disease registries

Answer 14

databases that contain demographical and health information of persons with a particular disease.

Question 15

endemic

Answer 15

the normal rate of a disease for a particular population, which may be higher than other populations.

Question 16

epidemic

Answer 16

sudden spread/occurrence of disease clearly in excess of normal expectancy. The community is defined, and the goal is to capture the disease as early as possible.

Question 17

fertility rate

Answer 17

estimated average number of children per woman; the number of live births during a specified time interval.

Question 18

frequency

Answer 18

used to identify disease occurrences; is counts in relation to size of the population.

Question 19

incidence

Answer 19

the number of new and developing cases over a period of time.

Question 20

incidence density

Answer 20

of new cases/total person time of population at risk

Question 21

incidence rate

Answer 21

of new cases/person-time at risk for the disease.

Question 22

incubation period

Answer 22

the time from exposure of an infectious agent to the onset of symptoms of an infectious disease.

Question 23

infant mortality rate

Answer 23

deaths

Question 24

infectivity

Answer 24

the ability of an infectious agent to cause infection, measured as the proportion of persons exposed to an infectious agent who become infected.

Question 25

latency period

Answer 25

the time from exposure to a causal agent to onset of symptoms of a (usually noninfectious) disease.

Question 26

live birth rate

Answer 26

also called natality; are population based measures of birth. # of live births/(total population/# people)

Question 27

maternal mortality rate

Answer 27

ratio that measures mortality associated with pregnancy; # of deaths among women while pregnant or within 42 days of termination/# of live births in same time period.

Question 28

MMWR

Answer 28

morbidity and mortality weekly report.

Question 29

morbidity

Answer 29

departure, subjective or objective, from a state of psychological well-being.

Question 30

mortality

Answer 30

measure of frequency of occurrence of death in a defined population during a specified interval. Midpoint of time period is often used.

Question 31

neonatal mortality rate

Answer 31

birth up to but not including 28 days/# of live births during same period.

Question 32

outbreak

Answer 32

an epidemic limited to a localized increase in the occurrence of disease; sometimes interchangeable with cluster.

Question 33

pandemic

Answer 33

epidemic that spreads across continents.

Question 34

pathogenicity

Answer 34

ability of an agent to cause disease after infection; proportion of persons infected by an agent who then experience clinical disease.

Question 35

period prevalence

Answer 35

the amount of a particular disease, chronic condition, or type of injury present among a population at any time during a particular period.

Question 36

person-time

Answer 36

the amount of time a person in a cohort study is observed and disease-free, often summed to provide the denominator for a person-time rate.

Question 37

propagation outbreak

Answer 37

an outbreak that spreads from person to person rather than from a common source.

Question 38

NNDSS

Answer 38

National notifiable diseases surveillance system

Question 39

point source outbreak

Answer 39

outbreak that occurs at a specific time, often a specific date. All cases occur within one incubation period.

Question 40

postnatal mortality rate

Answer 40

mortality rate for children from 28 days - 364 days. # deaths in a time period/# live births during same period.

Question 41

prevalence

Answer 41

the amount of cases during a period in time.

Question 42

prevalence rate

Answer 42

proportion of a population that has a particular disease, injury other health condition or attribute at a specified point in time or during a specific period.

Question 43

point prevalence

Answer 43

proportion of the population that has a particular disease at a specified point in time.

Question 44

proportion

Answer 44

ratio in which numerator is included in the denominator.

Question 45

proportional mortality rate

Answer 45

proportion of deaths among a population attributable to a particular cause during a selected period. Each cause is represented as a percent. Denominator is all deaths, not just population among whom the deaths occurred.

Question 46

rate

Answer 46

the relative frequency that an event occurs among a defined population per unit of time. # new cases or deaths during a time period/person-time or average population.

Question 47

risk

Answer 47

the probability that an event will occur

Question 48

secondary attack rate

Answer 48

a measure of the frequency of new cases of a disease among the contacts of known patients.

Question 49

sentinel/index case

Answer 49

the first case of a disease.

Question 50

active surveillance

Answer 50

going into a community and gathering information.

Question 51

passive surveillance

Answer 51

waiting for reports from the community to be sent.

Question 52

syndromic surveillance

Answer 52

looking for symptoms of a particular disease among patients.

Question 53

virulence

Answer 53

the ability of an infectious agent to cause severe disease, measured as the proportion of persons with the disease who become severely ill or die.

Question 54

WHO

Answer 54

world health organization.