Epidemiology (final exam) Flashcards
Includes demography and standardization, smoking cessation, and epidemiology of infectious disease
Define
Demography
The study of populations, especially with reference to
- size and density,
- fertility,
- mortality,
- growth,
- age distribution,
- migration, and
- vital statistics;
and the interaction of all these with social and economic conditions
What factors determine population size?
- Birth
- Death
- Migration
How is population size calculated?
P2 = P1 + B – D + IM – EM, where
- P1 is the previously recorded population size
- B is the number of births
- D is the number of deaths
- IM are immigrants (migrants into the area)
- EM are emigrants (migrants out of the area)
How do natural population increase and decrease occur?
- Increase: when births outnumber deaths
- Decrease: when deaths outnumber births
How can population growth rates be described?
- Annual percentage increase
- Population doubling time (PDT)
Define
Population doubling time
The number of years it will take for the population to double in size
How is PDT calculated?
PDT = 70/annual percentage increase
(annual percentage increase is kept as a percentage, i.e. if it’s 2.3%, it is left as 70/2.3, not 70/0.023)
What is the PDT for a population growing at 3% per annum?
PDT = 70/3%
= 23.33
≈ 23 years
What are sources of demographic information?
- Censuses
- Population registers
- Registration of vital events
- Sample household survey
- Governmental and private record systems
What are the types of censuses?
- Decennial: a poll count on a 100% sample, held every 10 years
- Midcensus: a poll count on a 10% sample, held every 10 years between full censuses
What are the limitations of censuses?
- Costly
- Slow
- Censuses in developing countries are likely to be incomplete and inaccurate
What is a population register?
More or less equivalent to a continuous census
What kinds of events are recorded in vital event registers?
- Births
- Deaths
- Marriages
- Divorces
- Stillbirths
- Adoptions
What systems are included in governmental/private record systems?
- Health services
- Education
- Armed forces
- Social security
- Insurance
What are the types of population data?
- Population size
- Mortality (death) rates
- Fertility: birth rate, fertility rate
- Residential mobility
- Population composition
- Geographic distribution of the population
- Population characteristics: marital and family status, education, occupation, income
Why are age and sex composition chosen to make population pyramids?
These two factors influence to pattern of mortality and natality more than any other factors
What are the common shapes of population pyramids?
- Spike
- Wedge
- Barrel
What are the characteristics of a spike-shaped population pyramid?
- Wide base with a rapidly narrowing apex
- High birth rate and high death rate at all ages
- Low total growth rate
- Characteristic of an underdeveloped country in primitive demographic equilibrium
Which population pyramid shape is typical of an underdeveloped country in a primitive demographic equilibrium?
Spike shape
What are the characteristics of a wedge-shaped population pyramid?
- Wide base and gradually narrowing apex
- High birth rate and low death rate
- High total growth rate
- Characteristic of a country in demographic transition with a rapidly growing population
Which population pyramid shape is typical of a country in demographic transition?
Wedge shape
What challenges face a country with a wedge-shaped population pyramid?
- Imbalance of its dependency ratio
- Severe socioeconomic stress
What are the characteristics of a barrel-shaped population pyramid?
- Narrow base with little further narrowing towards the apex
- Low birth rate and low death rate
- Characteristic of developed country in an evolved demographic equilibrium
Which population pyramid shape is typical of developed countries in an evolved demographic equilibrium?
Barrel shape
What are the factors affecting mortality?
- Age structure (the main determinant)
- Environment
- Economic development
- Technological advance
- Medical services/development of public health
What are the common causes of death in primitive, developing, and developed societies?
- Primitive: plague, cholera, typhus, smallpox (formerly)—i.e. epidemic infectious diseases
- Developing: dysentery, tuberculosis, pneumonia—i.e. endemic infectious diseases
- Developed/modern: chronic diseases—mainly cancer and ischemic heart disease
What kinds of death rates can be compared for populations?
- Crude death rate
- Age-specific death rate
- Standardized death rate
- Standardized mortality ratio (SMR)
Why is comparing crude death rates not advisable?
The differences could be due only to the demographic differences between the populations, e.g. proportion of elderly people
How is the difference in age composition of populations adjusted for when comparing death rates?
Standardization
What are the methods of standardization for death rates?
- Direct: using a standard population for age distributions (the number of people in each age tier)
- Indirect (SMR): using a standard population for age-specific death rates (the death rates themselves)
When is direct standardization used?
To compare large populations
What is a standard population?
Any population chosen to provide the data for standardized death rates. It can be either of the populations being compared, or one entirely unrelated
What are the advantages of direct age standardization?
- Consistency: if the age-specific death rates in population A are all higher than those in population B, this will still be reflected in the standardized rates
- Directly standardized rates can be compared over time if the same standard population is used
What are the limitations of direct age standardization?
- Data on death rates by age must be available
- Not suitable for small populations, as the age-specific rates are based on small numbers and thus very unstable
What is indirect standardization?
Adjusting for differences in age by calculating the number of deaths expected in the population if it had the same mortality experience as a reference population
What are the benefits of using a SMR?
- Easier to use
- Permits for statistical calculations (confidence interval)
- The information necessary is more easily available than for direct standardization
When is SMR more useful than direct standardization?
- Small populations
- When the age-specific death rates are unknown
How is SMR calculated?
SMR = (observed deaths × 100)/expected deaths
How are expected deaths calculated for SMR?
Multiplying the age-specific death rate for the reference population by the age range population of the population under study
How is SMR interpreted? What does an SMR of 120 mean? What does an SMR of 60% mean?
- SMR = 100: the study population has the same mortality rate as the reference population
- SMR > 100: the study population has a mortality rate higher than the reference population
- SMR < 100: the study population has a mortality rate lower than the reference population
SMR of 120 means the study population’s mortality rate is 20% higher than the reference population’s
SMR of 60 means the study population’s mortality rate is 50% lower than the reference population’s
What is the effect of chronic nicotine exposure on the central nervous system?
- Neuroadaptation: an increase in the number of brain nicotinic cholinoceptors
- Changes in gene expression and neural plasticity
What is the biology of nicotine addiction and the role of dopamine?
- Nicotine stimulates dopamine release
- Dopamine triggers pleasurable feelings
- Repeat administration to experience pleasure
- Development of tolerance and increase in the needed dose
What are the steps in the dopamine reward pathway?
- Nicotine enters the brain
- Nicotine binds to α4β2 nicotinic receptors
- Stimulation of α4β2 receptors leads to stimulation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA)
- The VTA has dopaminergic neurons that extend to the nucleus accumbens
- The nucleus accumbens and VTA ultimately stimulate the prefrontal cortex
- The prefrontal cortex begins the cascade of reactions resulting in the neuroendocrine and visceral responses to reward
What are the biologic factors for tobacco addiction?
- Desire for the direct pharmacologic actions of nicotine
- Relief of withdrawal symptoms
- Learned associations and behavior
What are some reasons smokers provide for their continued smoking?
- Pleasure
- Arousal
- Enhanced vigilance
- Improved performance
- Relief of anxiety or depression
- Appetite suppression
- Control of body weight
What are the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal?
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Irritability, frustration, and anger
- Anxiety
- Difficulty concentrating
- Restlessness
- Increased appetite and weight gain
- Decreased heart rate
- Cravings for nicotine
What is the onset and duration of nicotine withdrawal symptoms?
- Symptoms peak 24–48 hours after quitting
- Symptoms subside within 2–4 weeks
What are the immediate benefits to smoking cessation (< 1 week)
- Easier breathing due to relaxation of bronchial tubes
- Energy levels increase
What are the medium-term benefits to smoking cessation (months–1 year)
1 month
- Skin appearance improves due to improved skin perfusion
3–9 months
- Cough, wheezing, and breathing problems improve
- Lung function increases by up to 10%
1 year
- Risk of heart attack falls to half that of a smoker
What are the long-term benefits to smoking cessation (years)
10 years
- Risk of lung cancer falls to half that of a smoker
15 years
- Risk of heart attack falls to the same level as a person who has never smoked
How is smoking cessation managed?
- Behavioral therapy, AND
- Nicotine replacement therapy OR nicotinic partial agonists
What is nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)?
Providing the smoker with nicotine without using tobacco, thereby relieving symptoms of nicotine withdrawal
What is the principle behind NRT?
- Many of the difficulties in sustained smoking cessation are due to nicotine withdrawal
- NRT attenuates the severity of withdrawal, making it easier for ex-smokers to cope with abstinence
- When combined with unlearning the habitual elements of smoking addiction, this results in higher chances of success
What are the kinds of NRT?
- Nicotine patches
- Nicotine gum
- Nicotine lozenges
What is the typical length of nicotine patch treatment?
12 weeks
How long do the effects of nicotine patches last?
16–24 hours
What is the typical treatment regime of nicotine patches?
21–24 mg/24 h, 14 mg/24 h, 7 mg/24 h
Administered for 6, 3, and 3 weeks, respectively, or 8, 2, and 2 weeks