Module 3 descriptive epidemiology Flashcards
classifies disease/condition based upon (descriptive)
person
place
time
Aims of descriptive epidemiology
provide infor regarding
- prevention
- design of possible interventions
- sets stage for future research
descriptive epidemiology sets stage for this research
analytic epidemiology
- does this by creating hypothesis to test
descriptive epidemiology and time
disease/condition is not stagnant
- assessing allows for prevention measures (flu-shots)
time: secular
long-term trends
- tracking long term to see ebb and flow
time: seasonality
cyclic trends
time: epidemic period
track when an outbreak first occurs till epidemic
Place may refer to
international
national
local
categories
place analysis identifies
communities at increased risk for disease/condition
Person may refer to
inherent characteristics biologic characteristics acquired characteristics activities living conditions/ SES
inherent characteristics
age
race
sex
biological characteristics
immunity status
acquired characteristics
marital status, employment status
activities
drug use
analytic epidemiology aim
test hypotheses created during descriptive epidemiology
- concerned with causes and effects
- quantify exposures to outcomes
analytic epidemiology key feature
comparison group
epidemiologic triad
Agent: leads to disease: pathogen, injury
Host: susceptible person
Environment: extrinsic factors
Causal pies
- Component cause: one slice of pie, needed to make up entire pie, that’s needed to cause disease.
- Sufficient Cause: entire pie made up of different component causes.
