Epidemiology: Introduction, History, & Definitions (1) Flashcards

1
Q

What is epidemiology?

A

the study of what is upon people

  • it used to only apply to human populations
    (hence, demos meaning people)

epi: means upon

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2
Q

What is the LMU epidemiology definition?

A

the study of the health of populations

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3
Q

What is one health?

A

the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally, to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment

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4
Q

What are the great epidemiology detective cases?

A

5 Ws and 1 H

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5
Q

Who is John Snow?

A

English anesthesiologist who innovated several of the key epidemiological methods that remain valid and in use today

believed that cholera was transmitted by contaminated water and was able to demonstrate this association

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6
Q

What is the miasmatic theory of disease?

A

disease is transmitted by a miasm, or cloud, that clung low on the surface of the earth

hence, malaria for “bad air”

in Snow’s time

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7
Q

What is Snow’s natural experiment?

A

Snow noted that during a later cholera outbreak in 1854, those residents served by the Lambeth Company had fewer cases of cholera than residents served by the other water company

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8
Q

What is health?

A

a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being

not merely the absence of disease or infirmity

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9
Q

What is disease?

A

absence of health

a non-compensated perturbation of one or several functions of the host

pathological condition occurring a susceptible host

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10
Q

What is a case definition?

A

standard set of criteria for deciding whether an individual has a particular health condition

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11
Q

Why is a case necessary?

A

you don’t always know what is causing the symptoms you are seeing during an outbreak or epidemic

defines who is included (as a numerator) in an outbreak investigation

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12
Q

A case definition is defined in terms of _____, ______, and _____

A

person
place
time

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13
Q

A case definition can be _____

A

sensitive
specific
influenced by number of cases

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14
Q

Human rabies is a ______

A

clinically compatible illness laboratory confirmed by…

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15
Q

What is the case definition for Ebola Zaire?

A

unexplained fever + contact with suspected patient
or unexplained fever + 3 of the following …
or unexplained acute hemorrhagic disease

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16
Q

The graph shoes the number of AIDS cases reported as heterosexuality acquired in the US by years between 1981-1993. What happened in 1992-1993?

A

the case definition was changed and added the result of a laboratory test to the list of conditions which defined a case as AIDS

17
Q

What is the CDC’s definition of epidemic or outbreak?

A

the occurrence of more cases of disease than expected in a given area or among a specific group of people over a particular period of time

18
Q

T/F: An epidemic or outbreak is characterized by more than one case

A

FALSE - it can be a single case of a communicable disease long absent from a population

rabies, botulism, etc

19
Q

T/F: An outbreak is restricted to a single geographical area

A

FALSE - may occur in a restricted geographical area OR may extend over several countries

20
Q

What is a pandemic?

A

an epidemic that becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, a continent, or the world due to a susceptible population

21
Q

A true pandemic is associated with what?

A

high morbidity
significant mortality

22
Q

What is the attack rate equation?

A

of new cases in population at risk / # people in population at risk x 100

23
Q

What is crude mortality rate?

A

is the mortality rate from all causes of death for a population during a specified time period

24
Q

What is the denominator in crude mortality rate?

A

total population at the mid-point of time period

25
Q

What is case fatality rate?

A

the proportion of animals/persons with a particular condition who die from that condition

26
Q

What is the numerator in case fatality rate?

A

of deaths among those cases

27
Q

What is the denominator in case fatality rate?

A

number of incident cases

28
Q

What is cause-specific death rate?

A

the number of deaths from a specified cause per person/animal-years at risk

29
Q

What is the numerator for cause-specific death rate?

A

restricted to resident deaths in a specific geographic area (country, state, county, etc)

30
Q

T/F: Cause-specific death rate is very similar to case fatality rate but NOT the same

A

TRUE

31
Q

What is the iceberg dilemma of disease?

A

top: confirmed linked
bottom: at risk population

32
Q

What is the epidemiologic triad?

A

agent
host
environment

all encompassing disease