Intro Flashcards
Why is epidemiology important?
• Study of Disease Patterns
• Impact on Health Policies
• Importance in Disease Prevention
• Connecting Science and Society
What language does epidemiology come from?
From Greek: Epi + Demos + Logia
Upon People Study
What is epidemiology?
The study of the distribution and determinants of health- related states or events in specified populations and the application of this study to the control of health problems. (Anything related to health)
• The who? what? where? when? and why? of health
What are the characteristics of epidemiology?
• Study of health events, characteristics, determinant patterns
• Identify -> Analyze -> Solve
• Study designs, i.e., cohort, case-control study
• Population or group of individuals
(Not like hospital 1 on 1) (the individuals in the population have something in common) (*ONLY EXCEPTION is a case report: identify a very unique case)
What are the Roles of Epidemiology in Public Health?
• Disease Surveillance Systems (questionnaire: did you have it in the last 6 months?)
• Outbreak Investigation (go to the field)
• Health Prevention or Promotion Strategies
• Population Health Improvements
• Informed Policy Development
True or false: medicine is in a close relationship with other fields/discipline?
True
- clinical medicine
- biological medicine
- epidemiology
- public health (prevent diseases)
How is medicine and epidemiology linked?
Epidemiology will use technologies from medicine to have instant data on large populations throughout the years
How is medicine and biological medicine linked?
Supports some diagnoses with some tests
How is medicine and clinical medicine linked?
Focuses on a singular patient or small group of people with the same disease
What is a Cohorte?
People who share a similar characteristic
Define them by year or place and follow them for a few years
Clinical Medecine and epidemiology are linked to create clinical epidemiology. What are sub-types of clinical epidemiology?
Etiologic research
Diagnostic research
Prognostic research
Intervention research (different strategies)
What is the main difference among basic, clinical and public health science research for the characteristic “what/who is studied”?
Basic: cells (ex: blood work), tissues, animals in lab setting
Clinical: sick patient who come to healthcare facilities (also rehab)
Public health: populations or communities at large
What is the main difference among basic, clinical and public health science research for the characteristic “research goals”?
Basic: Understanding disease mechanisms and the effects of toxic substances (ex: stress - is it genetic or cuz you don’t cope properly)
Clinical: improving diagnosis and treatment of disease
Public health: prevention of disease, promotion of health
What are examples of the main difference among basic, clinical and public health science research?
Basic: toxicology, immunology
Clinical: internal medicine, paediatrics
Public health: epidemiology, environmental health science
Why study epidemiology?
• Describe and explain disease occurrence in a community/population
• Assist in developing, prioritizing, and evaluating public health programs
• Identify risk factors and causes of diseases (ex: why aging pop. are more at risk of complications)
• Evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of various treatment/prevention programs
• Investigate disease outbreaks or epidemics
• Assist in health planning and health policy formulation
• Understand the natural history of disease
• Estimate individual risks of diseases (individual risk factors)
• Complete the clinical picture of disease
Why is epidemiology important?
• Transformation of the bio-medical model
• Incorporate quantitative (as well as qualitative) methodology into the “art” of medicine, so as to make the framework for clinical decisions more objective by better reflecting the evidence from research
• Foci: individual —population—individual
• Expertise Medicine—Evidence-based Medicine
Mental health could be caused by what 3 factors?
Biological: physical health, metabolic disorders, comorbidity, neurochemistry, genetic, immune/stress response
Social & environmental: peer group, school, work, socio-economic status, culture, family circumstances
Psychological: self-esteem, attitudes/beliefs, coping skills, perceptions, temperament
Bio and social: drug effect, diet/lifestyle
Psych and social: interpersonal relationships, trauma, grief
Psych and bio: response to reward, emotions
What are Characteristics of Epidemiology?
• Subjects: Population
• Focusing on scientific research and valid results;
• Emphasize the importance of evidence-based;
• Scientific research and valid & reliable results provide the best available evidence for clinicians and patients to make their decisions. (Ex: people can have the same disease but different symptoms)
What did Hippocrates (460-377 BC) do?
The first formally to offer rational versus supernatural explanations for disease occurrence in terms of environmental and other factors
What did John Graunt (1620–1674) do?
• Quantitative approach to mortality (first evidence)
• Study of parish christening records and “Bills of Mortality”
• Sex differences in mortality; high infant mortality; seasonality
• Numerical account of the effects of plague in London
• Constructed the first life table
What did James Lind (1716–1794) do?
• Scottish naval surgeon
• Conducted experiment with 12 sailors with scurvy
• 6 pairs of sailors each received a different treatment (observational studies)
• Pair receiving oranges and lemons recovered
What did Edward Jenner (1749–1823) do?
• English physician
• Observed that dairy maids developed cowpox and that they did not develop smallpox during outbreaks
• Cowpox material used as vaccination
*pioneer of vaccines
What did John Snow (1813–1858) do?
• English physician
• Believed cholera was transmitted through contaminated water
• Traced local cholera epidemic to a public pump
What is the Classification of Epidemiologic Studies?
Epidemiologic Studies
|
Observational Studies or experimental studies
|
descriptive or analytic studies
*experimental: (case control or cohorte test)
What is the difference between descriptive and analytic epidemiology?
Descriptive: Examining the distribution of a disease
in a population, and observing the basic features of its distribution in terms of time, place, and person.
Typical study design: community health survey
(approximate synonyms - cross- sectional study, descriptive study)
Analytic: Testing a specific hypothesis about the relationship of a disease to a putative cause, by conducting an epidemiologic study that relates
the exposure of interest to the disease of interest
Typical study designs: cohort, case-control (compare between groups)
What is the Basic Triad of Descriptive Epidemiology?
The three essential characteristics of disease we look for in descriptive epidemiology:
• Time
• Place
• Person
What are the characteristics of time?
- Changing (dynamic) (ex: age) or stable (static)?
- Seasonal variation. (Ex: winter = more prone to develop mental disorders)
- Clustered (epidemic) or evenly distributed (endemic)?
- Point source (at specific moment in time)or propagated.
What are the characteristics of place?
• Geographically restricted or widespread (pandemic)?
• Relation to water or food supply.
• Multiple clusters or one?
What are the characteristics of person?
• Age
• Socio-economic status
• Gender
• Ethnicity/ Race
• Behaviour
What is the Nature history of disease?
Before disease starts
Disease present:
- symptoms first appear (ex: sore throat, cough)
- disease diagnosed
- treatment
*we want symptoms first appear and disease diagnosed to overlap to treat it as soon as possible
What are the Subspecialties of epidemiology?
• Exposure: social epidemiology; environmental epidemiology; etc. (ex: close to factories = cancer)
• Disease: cancer epidemiology; chronic disease epidemiology; etc.
• Population: pediatric epidemiology; older population epidemiology; etc.
