Module 1: Introduction Flashcards
How does Patten define epidemiology?
The study of the distribution and determinants of disease in populations.
How does Gordis define epidemiology?
The study of how disease is distributed in populations and the factors that influence or determine this distribution.
If people got diseases at random what would that entail for epidemiology? Why?
There would be no field of epidemiology as we couldn’t measure the distribution of disease.
The distribution in epidemiology refers to what?
Who is getting disease.
“Determinant” implies _____.
Cause.
“Association” is a ‘litter word’ compared to “determinant.” Why is this?
Litter word if something is related but maybe not causal.
The term “exposure” is a stand-in for what?
Factor potentially associated with disease.
In epidemiology, when we refer to disease what are we talking about?
Sickness and sickness care rather than health.
The World Health Organization defined health as what in 1948?
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
How does PHAC define population health?
An approach to health that aims to improve the health of the entire population and to reduce health inequities among population groups.
In population health, what does “upstream reasoning” entail?
Poor health outcomes are probabilistically determined by life factors, becoming increasingly more macro-level as you ask “but why?” questions.
In population health, when thinking about “cause”, we are examining _____ vs. _____.
Large populations vs. single cases.
What are the implications if a determinant is deemed more modifiable?
More interest to government policy.
The modifiability of a determinant patterns what?
Inequitable (unfair) difference in health outcomes vs. simple unfortunate luck.
In population health, being born with a disability (let’s say Down syndrome) is considered what? Why?
“Bad luck” and not modifiable. Related to maternal age - generally not modifiable, therefore not “unfair” from a population health standpoint.
A population can be defined by _____ of a group.
Characteristics (e.g., males).
Some think of population as the data generating process. What is an example of this?
Population of NS as the generating process that formed it - e.g., outmigration, mortality, immigration.
What are the two population health fundamentals?
Health of whole population (average level). Spread of that outcome (distribution/inequality).
Kindig & Stoddart (2003) said: “Population health is the health outcomes of a group of individuals including the distribution… The field includes outcomes, patterns, and policies or interventions that link the two.” Compare this to what a physician does.
Population health not concerned with the specific relationship between exposure and disease in an individual patient.
What is the difference between descriptive and analytical epidemiology?
Descriptive: outcomes
Analytical: outcomes and relationship to exposures/policies
