FQ 1 Flashcards
Define epidemiology
The study of disease or illness in a given population
What is the role of epidemiology?
- Health status of a population
- Prevalence and Incident of disease
- Treatment provided, hospital usage
- Trends in disease
- Death, birth, illness and injury rates
- Expenditure fir consumers and government
What is the use of epidemiology?
Epidemiology is used to study the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in populations, allowing researchers to understand the causes of diseases, identify risk factors, and inform public health policies to prevent and control diseases within a community; essentially, it helps to identify patterns of disease occurrence and understand why certain groups of people are more likely to develop specific diseases than others
List the 4 Indicators of Epidemiology
-Life expectancy
-Mortality
-Morbidity
-Infant mortality
Who uses data collected from epidemiology? (List 4)
- Government
- Health department officials
- Researchers
- Health or medical practitioners
List the limitations of epidemiology
- Reasons why people take risk
- Impact of the illness on quality of life
- Why inequalities exist
- Variations among sub populations
- Data is incomplete or nonexistent
- Contribution of factors
Define Prevalence
The number of proportion of people within a disease in a population at a given point in time.
Define Incidence
The number of proportion of new causes arising in a particular population within a given period (usually 1yr.)
Define morbidity
The condition of suffering from a disease or medical condition.
Define mortality
The number of people within a population which have died in a given year.
What is the leading causes of death of women?
- Dementia including Alzheimer’s disease
- Coronary Heart Disease
- Cerebrovascular disease
- COVID - 19
- Lung Cancer
What is the leading cause of death in men?
- Coronary heart disease
- Dementia including Alzheimer’s disease
- COVID-19
- Lung cancer
- Cerebrovascular disease
Fill in the following from the syllabus:
Identifying priority health issues
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-Social justice principals
-Priority population groups
-Prevalence of condition
-Potential for prevention and early intervention
-Costs to the individual and community
What are the principals of social justice?
E- Equity
D- Diversity
S- Supportive Environment
Explain what social Justice means to Australians?
It is important resources are allocated fairly, giving all Australians the opportunity to be healthy.
The population is growing and ageing, therefore health services and facilities need to increase in volume and also adapt to ensure health needs of older Australians can be met. There is a growing migrant population whose language barrier must be accounted for (cultural sensitivity) and availability of services extended.
All Australians have the right to be healthy, and the right to adequate health care that can support them in achieving this. Environments need to be structured so they are supportive of this principle.
Define Priority population groups
Specific groups of people who experience disproportionately poorer health outcomes or face significant barriers to accessing healthcare and social services, requiring targeted interventions and support
Population groups that suffer health inequalities include:
-ATSI
-Socioeconomically disadvantaged people
-People who live in rural and remote areas
-People born overseas
-The elderly
-People with disabilities
What does prevalence of condition refer to?
Include Examples
A measure of how common a condition is in a population. It includes both new and existing cases of the condition.
E.g. The decrease in deaths from CVD can be attributed to effective health promotion strategies.
However, increasing rates of type 2 diabetes indicate a need for a particular focus on the related determinants and risk factors.
Define:
-Prevention
-Early Intervention
Include Examples
Prevention: aims to stop problems from happening in the first place.
E.g. social wellbeing programs in schools, antenatal services, and public awareness campaigns.
Early Intervention: focuses on addressing issues as soon as they emerge, before they escalate.
E.g. providing speech therapy to a child experiencing a delay in language development
Define:
-Direct individual costs
-Indirect individual costs
-Direct community costs
Direct individual costs
- the financial burden that is associated with illness and disability such as ongoing medical costs (hospital charges, medical professional fees, medications, travel, etc.) and loss of employment.
Indirect individual costs
- persistent pain and loss of quality of life, possible exclusion from social activities, increased pressure on families to offer support and the emotion toll of chronic illness.
Direct community costs
- the vast funding of the Australian health care system (which is projected to markedly increase with an ageing and growing population).
