Health and Disease in Populations (Epidemiology)

Question 1

The value of studying health and disease in the population

Answer 1

-Measure burden of disease - impact on mortality, morbidity

• Understand WHO is at risk - variation of disease by age, gender, social class, ethnic origin, place and time IMPORTANT for public health intervention and useful in clinical practise
• Identify causes of disease - need causal evidence of an association between exposure and disease
• Preventing disease - once you have established a causal risk factor for a disease, you can reduce exposure to the risk factor

-Managing disease optimally in the population - identify treatments, direct health strives to those most at risk, targeted interventions

Question 2

The value of studying health and disease in the population

Answer 2

-Measure burden of disease - impact on mortality, morbidity

• Understand WHO is at risk - variation of disease by age, gender, social class, ethnic origin, place and time IMPORTANT for public health intervention and useful in clinical practise
• Identify causes of disease - need causal evidence of an association between exposure and disease
• Preventing disease - once you have established a causal risk factor for a disease, you can reduce exposure to the risk factor

-Managing disease optimally in the population - identify treatments, direct health strives to those most at risk, targeted interventions e.g hypertensive medications for diabetics vs black and over 55s.

Question 3

What is the clinical iceberg phenomenon?

Answer 3

Patients typically presenting to clinicians have disease that has progressed.

By assessing morbidity through surveying medical care consultations, hospital stays, A+E visits we are missing alot of disease (particularly early and less severe disease).

For a more complete picture of the burden of disease we need to survey at a population level

Question 4

Define epidemiology

Answer 4

Study of the DISTRIBUTION and DETERMINANTS of health in a POPULATION

e.g. How much disease? How is it distributed? What are its causes?

Question 5

Define Public Health

Answer 5

The science and art of

-Prolonging life

• Preventing disease
• Promoting health

Question 6

Define rate

Answer 6

Number of cases/population at risk

Question 7

Incidence rate

Answer 7

Occurence of new cases of disease per population per unit time

-Number of new deaths

• Number of new cases in a specified time/population at risk

-Measure of risk

Question 8

Prevalence

Answer 8

-Measure of burden of disease (old and new disease in a population)

• number of disease in a population at a specified time/population at risk during this time
• Proportion rather than rate