Exam 1 (Lecture 1-13) Flashcards
Who was one of the founders of epidemiology?
John Snow
Epidemiology is a public health basic science that studies the _______ and ______ of health-related states or events in specific populations to control disease/illness and promote health.
Distribution and Determinants
True or False: Epidemiology deals ONLY with diseases.
False. Epidemiology can focus on many different things.
Epidemiology always deals with ______, not just one individual.
Populations
Epidemiologists are experts at describing and comparing groups by: (3 things)
1) Counting (Frequencies)
2) Dividing (Percentages)
3) Comparing
What disease did John Snow believe was being distributed by the Broad Street pump in London?
Cholera
What are the common objectives of the discipline of epidemiology? (6 things)
1) Identify patterns/trends
2) Determine extent of states or events
3) Study natural course of states or events
4) Identify the causes of, or risk factors for, states or events
5) Evaluate effectiveness of measures that may prevent states or events
6) Assist in developing public health policy to promote health
Define “distribution” of disease.
Frequency and pattern of disease occurrences. Follows Descriptive Epidemiology = Person (Who), Place (Where), and Time (When)
Define “determinants” of disease.
Factors, risk, exposure, cause, modes of transmission, etc. Follows Analytic Epidemiology = Why and How
True of False: Disease occurrence is NOT random.
True
List the 6 core functions of epidemiology.
1) Public health surveillance
2) Field investigation
3) Analytic studies
4) Evaluation
5) Linkages
6) Policy development
Name this core function of epidemiology: To portray ongoing patterns of disease occurrence, so investigations, control and prevention measures can be developed and applied. i.e., Morbidity, Mortality, Birth
1) Public health surveillance
Name this core function of epidemiology: Determine sources/vehicles of disease; to simplify or learn more about the natural history, clinical spectrum, descriptive epidemiology (3 W’s) and risk factors of a disease before determining interventions.
2) Field investigation
Name this core function of epidemiology: Advance the information (hypotheses) generated by descriptive epidemiology techniques.
3) Analytic studies
Name this core function of epidemiology: Systematically and objectively determine relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and impact of activities.
4) Evaluation
Name this core function of epidemiology: Collaborate/communicate with (link to) other public health and healthcare professionals (and the public themselves).
5) Linkages
Name this core function of epidemiology: Provide input, testimony, recommendations regarding disease control and prevention strategies, reportable disease regulations and health-care policy.
6) Policy development
List the 3 key factors needed to compare disease frequency between groups.
1) # of people affected/impacted
2) Size of the source population or those at risk
3) Length of time the population is followed
When epidemiologists rely on healthcare systems to follow regulations and report diseases or conditions, they are exhibiting (passive/active) surveillance.
Passive
When public health officials go into the communities to search for new disease/condition cases, they are exhibiting (passive/active) surveillance.
Active
A surveillance system that looks for pre-defined signs/symptoms of patients related to trackable-but-rare diseases is…
Syndromic
Review the “Natural History of Disease Timeline” for 5 minutes.
See slide 5 from Descriptive Epi and Measures of Frequency.
Time between exposure and onset of disease can be referred to as _______ or ______ period (Symptoms may or may not be starting to occur and could be diagnosed clinically).
Induction or Incubation
Time between onset of disease and disease detection (symptoms or diagnosis) can be referred to as ______ period.
Latency
What is the most critical element that must be defined/delineated before any of the ‘Who’ of descriptive epidemiology can be acquired?
The case definition. This is a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease/condition for public health surveillance.
Occurrence of disease clearly in excess of normal expectancy (larger population. i.e., all of Kansas City)
Epidemic
An epidemic limited to a localized increase in the occurrence of disease (smaller population. i.e, all of KCU) Also called a “cluster”
Outbreak
The constant presence of a disease within a given area or population in excess of normal levels in other areas.
Endemic
An epidemic that alerts the world to the need for high vigilance (BE AWARE). Pre-pandemic label.
Emergency of International Concern
An epidemic spread world-wide (global health impact) Multi-national and multi-continent.
Pandemic
What is a graphical, time-based depiction generated during an outbreak/epidemic reflecting the # of cases by date?
An epidemic curve
The sentinel/index case can be classified as the (first/last) occurrence that could have caused the outbreak (unaware at time of illness) and is on the far (left/right) of the epi curve.
First; Left
Common/Point source on the epi curve represents that a disease was spread how? From where?
It was not spread person-to-person, it was from a common, single point source for the outbreak. (i.e., the Broad Street pump spreading cholera)
Propagated source on the epi curve represents that a disease was spread how?
It was spread from person-to-person.
Common/Point source can be either ______ or _______.
Continuous (with or without index case) or intermittent
What does NNDSS stand for and what do they do?
National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. They provide uniform criteria of nationally notifiable infections and non-infectious conditions for reporting purposes. Ran by CDC.
A proportion is the division of 2 (related/unrelated) numbers.
Related; The numerator is a subset of the denominator (percentage)
A ratio is the division of 2 (related/unrelated) numbers.
Unrelated; The numerator is not part of the denominator
A rate is a proportion (%) with ____ incorporated into the denominator.
Time
New cases of disease. (A proportion, including the “at risk” or “base” population in denominator)
Incidence; Risk; Attack Rate = # of New cases of Illness/ # of People at RISK of Illness (or in Population)
***Have to subtract out those who already have the disease or are immune from the starting population (if possible)
Existing cases of disease + New cases of disease. (A proportion, including the “at risk” or “base” population in denominator)
Prevalence = # of existing cases of disease/ # of persons in population. (Prevalence rate is this within a certain period of time)
***Time frames for numerator/denominator must be the same and denominator includes those already with disease AND at risk for getting disease.
Incidence when summed over multiple time periods.
Cumulative incidence
What do you use when you can’t calculate the population at risk or the population isn’t followed at the same time?
Incidence Rate = # of New cases of disease/ Person-time at risk for the disease (or in Population)
Also called Incidence Density when summed over multiple time periods
How would you express 100 person-years? (Describing unit of person-time)
100 people followed for 1 year; 10 people followed for 10 years; 1 person followed for 100 years; 25 people followed for 4 years
When membership of a population is based on an event and is permanent, then it’s…
Fixed
When membership of a population is based on a condition and is transitory, then it’s…
Dynamic
Prevalence at 8 PM on October 1st is an example of _____ prevalence.
Point
Prevalence from October 2018 to October 2019 is an example of _____ prevalence.
Period
Definition and equation for Crude Morbidity Rate.
Morbidity is the condition of being diseased. The equation is the same as prevalence, which is the # of Persons with Disease/ # of persons in the population.
Definition and equation for Crude Mortality Rate.
Mortality is death. The equation is # of deaths (of all causes) / # of persons in population.
of Persons with Cause-Specific Disease/ # of persons in population
Cause-Specific Morbidity Rate
of Cause-Specific Deaths/ # of persons in population
Cause-Specific Mortality Rate