Introduction to Epidemiology Flashcards
What are epidemiological principles essential for understanding?
Spread of disease in population and how to manage
occurrence of complex diseases and productivity problems
impact of disease on populations
What is evidence-based veterinary medicine?
use the best available evidence for decision-making in the care of your patient
2 sources of evidence
internal evidence
external evidence
What is internal evidence?
your own clinical experience and expertise
What is external evidence?
evidence from other research
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
study of disease in populations
what does veterinary epidemiology investigate?
disease, productivity, and welfare in animal populations
what is the goal of veterinary epidemiology?
reduce frequency of disease occurrence, enhance productivity ad improve welfare
what are the purposes of epidemiology?
describe the distribution of health-related states/events (who, what, where, when)
identify determinants of health-related outcomes (why)
clinical way of thinking
focuses on individual
success depends on: disease being known, correct diagnosis/list of diagnoses
epidemiological way of thinking
focuses on groups
success without known the etiological agent
which is the best approach?
use both clinical and epidemiological
descriptive epidemiology
describes the disease
who, what, where, when
analytical epidemiology
attempt to explain differences in patterns of disease by examining associations and identifying possible causes of the disease
why
ultimate goal is to determine if an exposure factor causes the disease
what is a case definition
standard criteria for categorizing an individual as a case
avoid subjectivity
limitations of descriptive epidemiology
cannot formally identify associations between exposure and outcome
cannot infer causality
can be useful to generate hypotheses for future testing using analytical methods
examples of descriptive studies
case report
case series
cross-sectional study (with no comparison between groups)
what is an association
when exposure and outcome are dependent on one another
independent (not associated) means:
when one quantity changes, nothing happens to the other
outcome
result of response, usually a disease or some other change in health status
exposure
potential determinant of disease or health status
what is a determinant
an exposure that is shown to be associate with the outcome
AKA: risk factors, protective factors
T/F epidemiology determines the cause of a disease in a given individual
false
T/F epidemiology determine the relationship or association between given exposure and the frequency of disease in populations
true
infer causation based on association as well as other factors
association
identifiable relationship between an exposure and an outcome
implies that the exposure might cause the outcome
causation
implies there is a true mechanism that leads from the exposure to the disease
T/F cause of disease means it is the only cause
false
most diseases are complex, with many causes
epidemiological triad
consists of external agent susceptible host, and environment that brings the two together
T/F the epidemiological triad is inadequate for diseases that appear to have multiple contributing causes without a single necessary one
true
cardiovascular disease, most cancers
what is Rothman’s model (causal pies)
disease is caused by multiple factors- when a host is exposure to all these factors (not necessarily at the same time) disease occurs
T/F in Rothman’s model a component can be necessary but not sufficient to cause a disease
true
needs other factors for disease to be present but is present in all cases of disease
