Epidemiology Flashcards
What is epidemiology?
‘the study of that which Is upon people’
What does endemic mean?
Diseases that reside within a population
What does epidemic mean?
Diseases that befall a population
How is epidemiology defined?
The study of the distribution and determinants of health-relates states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems
Give a more succinct definition of epidemiology
How often disease in different groups of people and WHY
What are the three types of prevention?
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
What is primary prevention?
The prevention of disease through the control of exposure to risk factors
before onset of disease
What is secondary prevention?
The application of available measures to detect early departures from health and to introduce appropriate treatment and interventions
slows progression
What is tertiary prevention?
The application of measures to reduce or eliminate long-term impairments and disabilities, minimising suffering caused by existing departures from good health and to promote the patient’s adjustments to their condition.
e.g. rehabilitation of someone who has had a stroke
enabling return to normal function
What does being good at epidemiology involve?
Curiosity Problem-solving Numerical ability Critical thinking Communication Creativity
What are the three dimension of epidemiology?
Time
People
Place
What two things are often studied in epidemiology?
Exposures and Outcomes
What does the demographic transition model consist of?
5 stages of progression looking at birth rate, death rate and total population
What are the four stages of epidemiological transition?
Pestilence and famine
Receding pandemics
Degenerative man-made diseases
Delayed degenerative diseases and emerging infections
When was the era of pestilence of famine occurring the UK?
Pre-industrial revolution (up to 1800s)
What was associated with this period of pestilence and famine?
Urbanisation
Constraints on food supply
High birth rate and high mortality
Life expectancy low at birth
When was the era of receding pandemics occurring the UK
1800s - 1950
What was associated with this receding pandemics and famine?
Agricultural development improves nutrition
Life expectancy increases
Water, sanitation, hygiene
Vaccination emerges
High birth rate and decreasing deaths
When was the era of degenerative diseases occurring the UK?
1950 -2010s
What was associated with this degenerative and man-made disease period?
Lifestyle factors and NCDs predominate: Cancer and CVD
Environmental and global determinants drive obesity and other risk factors
Technology reduces need for physical labour
Addiction, violence and other issues emerge
When was the era of delayed degenerative diseases and emerging infections occurring the UK?
2010s onwards
What was associated with this degenerative and man-made disease period?
Health technology defer morbidity, albeit at increasing financial cost
Emerging zoonotic disease presents new threats
Inequalities within and between countries come to the fore
What determines which stage a country falls under?
Access to food, water, healthcare and sanitation
What are the levels of evidence?
The pyramid
Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
Randomised control trials
Cohort Studies
Case-control studies
Case series, case reports
Editorial, Expert opinion
