Epidemiology Flashcards
What is epidemiology
Study of how often diseases occur In different groups of people and why
What does descriptive epidemiology describe
Prevalence
What survey does descriptive epidemiology use
Cross sectional survey
What are the advantages of cross sectional surveys
Quick and easy to conduct. Measure prevalence. Multiple outcomes and exposures measured
What are the disadvantages of cross sectional surveys
Unable to measure incidence, susceptible to bias and may be difficult to interpret
What is a problem in carrying out cross sectional surveys
Non response when people don’t feel affected by the issue
Describe cross sectional surveys
Taking a population and looking at how many are affected and normal
What is analytical epidemiology
This compares what is present in populations
What studies are used in analytical epidemiology
Cohort and case controlled
What are cohort studies
Where you study the participants by their exposure status. You have a group of exposed and non exposed and see how many are affected by the end of a time period
What can you work out from cohort studies
Prevalence, incidence and risk ratio
What is a retrospective cohort study
When the outcomes have already occurred
What are the advantage sof cohort studies
Avoid selection bias, good for rare exposures
What are the disadvantages of cohort studies
Ethical issue with exposing people to potential risks, correlation doesn’t mean causation, time consuming, requires large population
What is a case controlled study
Study of participants based on their outcome
