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BIOSTATISTICS > EPIDEMIOLOGY > Flashcards

EPIDEMIOLOGY Flashcards

1
Q

What is the definition of Epidemiology?

A

The study of the frequency, distribution, and determinants of diseases and other health-related conditions in human populations, and the application of this study to the promotion of health and the prevention and control of health problems.

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2
Q

What is the main focus of epidemiology?

A

The effect of disease on the population rather than individuals.

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3
Q

How is frequency measured in epidemiology?

A

By morbidity and mortality rates.

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4
Q

What are health-related conditions?

A

Conditions which directly or indirectly affect or influence health, such as injuries, births, and health-related behaviors.

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5
Q

What does distribution refer to in epidemiology?

A

The geographical distribution of diseases, the distribution in time, and distribution by type of persons affected.

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6
Q

What are determinants in the context of epidemiology?

A

Factors which determine whether or not a person will get a disease.

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7
Q

What was a significant contribution of Hippocrates to epidemiology?

A

He displayed awareness of the impact of environment and behavior on personal well-being.

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8
Q

Who formulated a hypothesis about cholera transmission and in what year?

A

John Snow in 1849.

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9
Q

What is the primary use of epidemiology in a community?

A

To identify and describe health problems.

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10
Q

What are primary causes of disease?

A

Factors necessary for a disease to occur, without which the disease will not occur.

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11
Q

What are risk factors in disease causation?

A

Factors associated with an increased occurrence of a disease.

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12
Q

What does the epidemiologic triangle illustrate?

A

The relationship among agent, host, and environment in the occurrence of disease.

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13
Q

What are the four stages in the natural history of a disease?

A
  • Stage of susceptibility
  • Stage of pre-symptomatic disease
  • Stage of clinical disease
  • Stage of disability or death
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14
Q

What is primary prevention?

A

Promoting health, preventing exposure, and preventing disease to keep the disease process from becoming established.

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15
Q

What is secondary prevention?

A

Stopping or slowing the progression of disease to prevent or limit permanent damage.

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16
Q

What is tertiary prevention?

A

Targeted towards people with permanent damage or disability.

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17
Q

Fill in the blank: The natural history of disease refers to the progression of disease process in an individual over time, in the absence of _______.

A

[intervention]

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18
Q

True or False: The clinical stage of a disease has no signs or symptoms.

A

False

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19
Q

What is primary prevention?

A

Strategies aimed at preventing disease before it occurs

Examples include vaccinations and health education.

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20
Q

What is secondary prevention?

A

Strategies focused on early detection and treatment of disease to prevent progression

Examples include screenings for breast cancer and treatment for trachoma.

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21
Q

What is tertiary prevention?

A

Strategies aimed at managing and mitigating the impact of disease after it has caused permanent damage

Includes rehabilitation and support for individuals with disabilities.

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22
Q

What is a communicable disease?

A

An illness caused by a specific infectious agent that can be transmitted from an infected person or animal to a susceptible host.

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23
Q

What are the components of the infectious process?

A

The Agent, Reservoirs, Portal of Exit, Mode of Transmission, Portals of Entry, Human Host.

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24
Q

Define ‘Reservoir’ in terms of infectious diseases.

A

An organism or habitat where an infectious agent normally lives, develops, and multiplies.

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25
Q

What is a Carrier in infectious disease context?

A

An infected person who does not show symptoms but can transmit the infection to others.

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26
Q

What is the Portal of Exit?

A

The route through which an infectious agent leaves its reservoir.

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27
Q

What are the modes of transmission in infectious diseases?

A

Direct and Indirect transmission, including contact, projection, transplacental, vehicle-borne, vector-borne, and airborne.

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28
Q

What is herd immunity?

A

Resistance of a population to the introduction of an infectious agent based on immunity of a high proportion of individuals.

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29
Q

What is descriptive epidemiology?

A

A branch of epidemiology concerned with describing the frequency and distribution of diseases by time, place, and person.

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30
Q

What are the major variables in descriptive epidemiology?

A

Person, Place, and Time.

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31
Q

What is a cross-sectional study?

A

A descriptive study design assessing the presence or absence of exposure and disease at a single point in time.

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32
Q

What are the advantages of cross-sectional studies?

A

Less expensive, easier to conduct, provide useful information for planning health services.

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33
Q

Define Ratio in epidemiological terms.

A

The relationship between two occurrences or conditions expressed in the form of x:y or x/y.

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34
Q

What is a Proportion?

A

A specific type of ratio where the numerator is included in the denominator, expressed as a percentage.

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35
Q

What is a Rate in epidemiology?

A

A measure that includes time, representing the probability of disease occurrence in a defined population over a specified period.

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36
Q

What is incidence rate?

A

The number of new cases of a disease occurring during a specified period in a population at risk.

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37
Q

What is the difference between incidence and prevalence?

A

Incidence measures new cases, while prevalence measures all existing cases at a given time.

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38
Q

What is the appropriate denominator for incidence rate?

A

Population at risk

Knowing the population at risk can be difficult, so total population can also be used.

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39
Q

What must be specified for incidence to be a measure of risk?

A

A period of time

All individuals in the denominator must be followed up for that entire period.

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40
Q

How can the incidence rate be calculated?

A

Incidence Rate = (No. of new cases / Total population) X K

K is a constant for scaling, often 1000.

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41
Q

What does a high incidence rate in an area indicate?

A

A high risk of acquiring that disease by healthy individuals.

42
Q

What is an attack rate?

A

A type of incidence rate used during epidemics.

43
Q

How is the attack rate calculated?

A

Attack Rate = (No. of new cases during epidemic / Total population at risk) X K

K is a constant for scaling.

44
Q

What does the point prevalence rate measure?

A

The proportion of a population with a certain condition at a given point in time.

45
Q

How is point prevalence rate calculated?

A

Point Prevalence Rate = (All persons with a specific Condition at one point in time / Total population) X K

46
Q

What is the Crude Death Rate (CDR)?

A

CDR = (Total no. of deaths during a given time interval / Estimated mid-interval population) X 1000

47
Q

What does the Age-specific mortality rate measure?

A

No. of deaths in a specific age group during a given time / Estimated mid-interval population of specific age group X 1000

48
Q

What is the Case Fatality Rate (CFR)?

A

CFR = (No. of deaths from a specific disease during a given time / No. of cases of that disease during the same time) X 100

49
Q

What does the Neonatal Mortality Rate measure?

A

NMR = (No. of deaths under 28 days of age reported during a given time / No. of live births reported during the same time) X 1000

50
Q

What is the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)?

A

IMR = (No. of deaths under 1 year of age during a given time / No. of live births reported during the same time) X 1000

51
Q

What is the Under-five mortality rate?

A

U5MR = (No. of deaths of 0-4 years old during a given time / Average population of the same age at the same time) X 1000

52
Q

What does the Maternal Mortality Rate reflect?

A

The standards of all aspects of maternal care (antenatal, delivery, and postnatal).

53
Q

What is a census?

A

A periodic count or enumeration of a population.

54
Q

What are vital statistics?

A

A system of registering and compiling all births and deaths occurring nationwide.

55
Q

What is the main advantage of health service records?

A

Easily obtainable and available at low cost.

56
Q

What is a limitation of health surveys?

A

They are expensive and dependent on the memory and cooperation of the interviewee.

57
Q

What are the main methods of data collection?

A
  • Observation
  • Interview and questionnaires
  • Documentary sources
58
Q

What is the purpose of health surveys?

A

To obtain comprehensive data for monitoring the health status of a population.

59
Q

What are the different sources of health information?

A
60
Q

What is the major source of health information in the Philippines?

A
61
Q

What problems are related to health service records as a source of health data?

A
62
Q

Which method of data collection would be appropriate to know the number of people in a kebele using latrines?

A
63
Q

Define epidemic.

A

The occurrence of disease or other health-related condition in excess of the usual frequency in a given area or among a specific group of people over a particular period of time.

64
Q

What are the types of epidemics?

A
  • Common Source Epidemics
  • Propagated/Progressive Epidemics
  • Mixed Epidemics
65
Q

What is endemic?

A

Presence of a disease at more or less stable level.

66
Q

What is hyper endemic?

A

Persistently high level of disease occurrence.

67
Q

What does sporadic mean in the context of disease occurrence?

A

Occasional or irregular occurrence of a disease.

68
Q

What defines a pandemic?

A

An epidemic involving several countries or continents affecting a large number of people.

69
Q

What is a point source epidemic?

A

Disease occurs as a result of exposure of a group of susceptible persons to a common source of a pathogen, often at the same time.

70
Q

What characterizes a propagated epidemic?

A

The infectious agent is transferred from one host to another, causing a gradual increase in cases.

71
Q

What is a mixed epidemic?

A

An epidemic that begins with a single, common source of an infectious agent with subsequent propagated spread.

72
Q

What is the purpose of investigating an epidemic?

A

To determine the specific cause or causes of the outbreak and take appropriate measures for control.

73
Q

What are the steps in the investigation of an epidemic?

A
  • Prepare for fieldwork
  • Verify the existence of an epidemic
  • Confirm the diagnosis
  • Identify and count cases
  • Describe the epidemic with respect to person, place, and time
  • Identify the causes of the epidemic
  • Manage the epidemic and follow up
74
Q

What is a case definition?

A

A standard set of criteria to differentiate between cases and non-cases.

75
Q

What are the types of case definitions?

A
  • Confirmed/definite: Laboratory verification
  • Probable: Typical clinical features without laboratory confirmation
  • Possible: Fewer typical clinical features
76
Q

What is an epidemic curve?

A

A graphical representation of the distribution of cases plotted over time.

77
Q

What is the role of a spot map in epidemic investigation?

A

To study the geographic distribution of cases.

78
Q

What should be assessed to identify the causes of an epidemic?

A
  • Susceptibility of individuals
  • Environmental conditions
  • Breeding sites for vectors
79
Q

What are general principles in the management of epidemics?

A
  • Measures directed against the reservoir
  • Measures that interrupt transmission
  • Measures that reduce host susceptibility
80
Q

What is passive surveillance?

A

A mechanism for routine surveillance based on passive case detection and routine reporting.

81
Q

What are the advantages of passive surveillance?

A
  • Covers a wide range of problems
  • Does not require special arrangement
  • Relatively cheap
  • Covers a wider area
82
Q

What are the disadvantages of passive surveillance?

A
  • Unreliable, incomplete, and inaccurate data
  • Data may not be available on time
  • Lack of representativeness of the whole population
83
Q

What is active surveillance?

A

A method where health officials proactively seek out cases and collect data.

84
Q

What is passive surveillance?

A

A method of data collection that covers a wide range of problems without requiring special arrangements.

85
Q

List advantages of passive surveillance.

A
  • Covers a wide range of problems
  • Does not require special arrangement
  • It is relatively cheap
  • Covers a wider area
86
Q

What are the disadvantages of passive surveillance?

A
  • Information is often unreliable, incomplete, and inaccurate
  • Data is usually not available on time
  • Desired information may not be obtained
  • Lacks representativeness of the whole population
87
Q

Define active surveillance.

A

A method of data collection focused on specific diseases for a limited period, involving data collection from communities through surveys.

88
Q

What are the advantages of active surveillance?

A
  • Collected data is complete and accurate
  • Information is collected in a timely manner
89
Q

What are the disadvantages of active surveillance?

A
  • Requires good organization
  • It is expensive
  • Requires skilled human power
  • Not a continuous process
  • Directed towards specific disease conditions
90
Q

In what situations is active surveillance appropriate?

A
  • Periodic evaluation of ongoing programs
  • Programs with limited time of operation
  • New disease discovery
  • New mode of transmission
  • Disease affecting a new subgroup
  • Reappearance of previously eradicated diseases
91
Q

List the activities carried out under surveillance.

A
  • Data collection and recording
  • Data compilation, analysis, and interpretation
  • Reporting and notification
  • Dissemination of information
92
Q

What are features of a good surveillance system?

A
  • Combination of active and passive surveillance techniques
  • Timely notification
  • Comprehensive actions taken in response to notifications
  • Availability of strong laboratory services for accurate diagnoses
93
Q

What is the integrated disease surveillance system?

A

A strategy that coordinates and streamlines various activities from different programs to maximize the use of scarce resources.

94
Q

What types of diseases are included in the integrated disease surveillance system?

A
  • Top causes of high morbidity and mortality
  • Diseases with epidemic potential
  • Internationally required surveillance diseases
  • Diseases with effective control interventions
  • Easily identifiable diseases
95
Q

List epidemic-prone diseases included in the priority list.

A
  • Cholera
  • Diarrhea with blood (Shigella)
  • Yellow fever
  • Measles
  • Meningitis
  • Plague
  • Viral hemorrhagic fevers
  • Typhoid fever
  • Relapsing fever
  • Epidemic typhus
  • Malaria
96
Q

What diseases are targeted for eradication and elimination?

A
  • Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)/polio
  • Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm)
  • Leprosy
  • Neonatal tetanus
97
Q

What are other diseases of public health importance?

A
  • Pneumonia in children under 5 years
  • Diarrhea in children under 5 years
  • New AIDS cases
  • Onchocerciasis
  • Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
  • Tuberculosis
98
Q

True or False: Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) is on the national priority diseases list.

A

False

99
Q

What is the purpose of surveillance?

A

To monitor health conditions and inform public health policy.

100
Q

What is the difference between active and passive surveillance?

A

Active surveillance involves proactive data collection, while passive surveillance relies on data provided by health institutions.

101
Q

What is the most important use of active surveillance?

A

To gather complete and timely data on specific diseases.

102
Q

What is an advantage of the integrated disease surveillance strategy?

A

It maximizes the use of scarce resources by coordinating surveillance activities.

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