epidemiology- definition Flashcards
Epi- upon
Demos- people
Logos- study of
study of what befalls a population
epidemiology
- Scientific inquiry and its foundation
- Data driven
- Relies on systemic, unbiased approach to the collection analysis and interpretation of data
study
- frequency
- pattern
distribution
- Why
- How
- Epidemiologists assume that illness does not occur randomly in a population, but happens only when the right accumulation of risk factors or determinants exists in an individual.
- To search for these determinants, epidemiologists use analytic epidemiology or epidemiologic studies to provide the “Why” and “How” of such events.
- They assess whether groups with different rates of disease differ in their demographic characteristics, genetic or immunologic make-up, behaviors, environmental exposures, or other so-called potential risk factors.
Determinants
- number of health events (number of cases of meningitis or diabetes in a population)
- relationship of that number to the size of the population.
- The resulting rate allows epidemiologists to compare disease occurrence across different populations.
Frequency
occurrence of health-related events by:
- time
- place
- person
Pattern
may be annual, seasonal, weekly, daily, hourly, weekday versus weekend, or any other breakdown of time that may influence disease or injury occurrence.
Time patterns
include geographic variation, urban/rural differences, and location of work sites or schools.
Place patterns
include demographic factors which may be related to risk of illness, injury, or disability such as age, sex, marital status, and socioeconomic status, as well as behaviors and environmental exposures.
Personal characteristics
Epidemiology was originally focused exclusively on epidemics of communicable diseases but was subsequently expanded to address endemic communicable diseases and non-communicable infectious diseases
Health-related states or events
- Clinician: is concerned about the health of an individual. clinician’s “patient” is the individual.
- Epidemiologist is concerned about the collective health of the people in a community or population. epidemiologist’s “patient” is the community.
Specified population
- applying the knowledge gained by the studies to community-based practice.
- make the proper diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment for a patient, the clinician combines medical (scientific) knowledge with experience, clinical judgment, and understanding of the patient
Application
a phase of epidemiology approach that concerns with the disease distribution and frequency
descriptive epidemiology
a phase in epidemiology approach that’s concerned with analyze the causes of disease through hypothesis testing
analytical epidemiology
phase epi approach that answers questions about the effectiveness of new methods for controlling diseases or for improving underlying conditions
intervention / experimental
phase in epi approach that measure the effectiveness of different health services and programmes
evaluation epidemiology
presumptive identification of unrecognized diseases or defects through the application of diagnostic tests or laboratory examinations and clinical assessment.
screening
done to look for previously unidentified cases of diseases.
case finding
proportion of persons with a disease who test positive on a screening test. measures the probability of correctly identifying a positive case of a disease.
sensitivity
proportion of persons without a disease who have negative results on a screening test. It measures the probability of correctly identifying non-cases.
Specificity