Epidemiology

Question 1

‘Number of new cases of disease during given time period’ is described as?

Answer 1

incidence

Question 2

‘Number of all cases (new&pre-existing) at specified time point’ is described as?

Answer 2

point prevalence

Question 3

‘Number of all cases (new&pre-existing) over specified time period’ is described as?

Answer 3

period prevalence

Question 4

Is incidence or prevalence described as being a short lived impact?

Answer 4

incidence

Question 5

Is incidence or prevalence described as being a longer term impact?

Answer 5

prevalence

Question 6

What is the term used for the following…

refers to the rate at which a disease occurs in a population?

Answer 6

morbidity rate

Question 7

What is the term used for the following…

the incidence of death from a disease

Answer 7

mortality rate

Question 8

What is the term used for the following…

% of patients alive at a given time after diagnosis (usually 1, 5 or 10 years)

Answer 8

survival rate

Question 9

What is the term used for the following…

of incident cases, how many people died from the disease (as opposed to other causes)

Answer 9

case fatality rate

Question 10

What is the term used for the following…

one that relates to results for a population taken as a whole, without subdivision or refinement

Answer 10

crude rate

Question 11

What is the term used for the following…
any attribute, characteristic or exposure of an individual that increases the likelihood of developing a disease or injury

Answer 11

risk factor

Question 12

What are the 3 levels of prevention?

Answer 12

1. primary - preventing disease initiation (eg. immunisation)
2. secondary prevention - identifying disease early and impeding progression and recurrence (eg. screening)
3. tertiary prevention - reduce onset or impact of complications (eg. rehabilitation)

Question 13

What is the term used for the following…
an approach to identifying and managing the health and care risks of the local population, segmenting the risks based on needs, and designing services and other interventions to best meet these needs

Answer 13

population approach

Question 14

What are 3 criticisms of the population approach?

Answer 14

1. there is little motivation for low-risk individuals to change behaviour
2. most deprived least able to benefit from population approach - leading to a greater inequality in health
3. the small benefit to most individuals can be outweighed by the risk of the intervention, even if this is also small

Question 15

What is the term used for the following…

statistical dependence between two or more events, characteristics, or other variables

Answer 15

association

Question 16

What are strengths and weaknesses of case series/reports?
- single or multiple reports of patients with same condition/treatment - illustrate aspects of condition, treatment or outcomes

Answer 16

strengths - easy to understand, easy to write

weaknesses - no controls, selection bias, positive case bias

Question 17

What are the strengths and weaknesses of a case control study?
- an observational epidemiological study of persons with the disease (or another outcome variable) of interest and a suitable control group of persons without the disease (comparison group, reference group)

Answer 17

strengths - can be quick, easy and useful with rare condition/treatment

weaknesses - doesn’t allow you to calculate the incidence (number of new cases of a disease occurring in a specified time)
- difficulties matching cases and controls issue

Question 18

What are strengths and weaknesses of a cohort study?
a study design where one or more samples (called cohorts) are followed prospectively and subsequent status evaluations with respect to a disease or outcome are conducted to determine which initial participants exposure characteristics (risk factors) are associated with it.

Answer 18

strengths - can establish causation or treatment outcomes when randomised controlled trials not possible

weaknesses - not as reliable, need large samples

Question 19

What are strengths and weaknesses of randomised controlled trials?
- a trial in which subjects are randomly assigned to one of two groups: one (the experimental group) receiving the intervention that is being tested, and the other (the comparison group or control) receiving an alternative (conventional) treatment

Answer 19

strengths - eliminates selection bias, reduces confounding, easier to blind/mask than observational studies

weaknesses - expensive in terms of time and money, volunteer bias (the participants may not be representative of the whole)

Question 20

What is being described?
a group of nine principles that can be useful in establishing epidemiologic evidence of a causal relationship between a presumed cause and an observed effect and have been widely used in public health research.

Answer 20

hills criteria for causation

Question 21

What are 6 risk factors for oral cancer?

Answer 21

1. smoking
2. alcohol
3. diet
4. HPV
5. sun exposure
6. betel quid