Prevention and Health Improvement

Question 1

What is primordial prevention?

Answer 1

action to prevent disease risk factors from emerging (e.g. changes to social and environmental conditions)

Question 2

What is primary prevention?

Answer 2

action to modify existing risk factors in order to prevent the development of disease in healthy people (e.g. banning substances, altering risky behaviour)

Question 3

What is secondary prevention?

Answer 3

actions to detect disease early to minimise the emergence of symptoms and/or complications (e.g. screening and prophylactic treatment)

Question 4

What is tertiary prevention?

Answer 4

actions to improve the quality of life and reduce symptoms in established disease

Question 5

What is the name given to the time between disease onset and the development of clinical signs and symptoms?

Answer 5

subclinical period

Question 6

What 2 components can validity be broken into?

Answer 6

1) specificity

2) sensitivity

Question 7

Define sensitivity (in relation to screening tests):

Answer 7

the proportion of diseased people correctly classified

Question 8

Give the equation used to workout sensitivity:

Answer 8

(those who test positive for a disease/ total people classified with a disease) x100

Question 9

Define specificity (in relation to screening tests):

Answer 9

the proportion of non-diseased people correctly classified

Question 10

What category of prevention does screening come under?

Answer 10

secondary prevention

Question 11

Define screening:

Answer 11

the testing of a population for a condition who do not have recognised symptoms of a disease

Question 12

What analogy is used to describe how screening works to manage populations?

Answer 12

sieve

Question 13

Give 5 benefits of screening:

Answer 13

1) can detect a problem before symptoms are noticed

2) early treatment can therefore be offered

3) you can make informed decisions about your health

4) it can reduce risk of developing a condition

5) some deaths can be prevented

Question 14

Give 4 potential harms of screening:

Answer 14

1) screening tests are not 100% accurate

2) false positives lead to high anxiety, reduced treatment and potentially harmful procedures

3) false negatives can lead to false reassurance

4) screening tests can lead to difficult decisions

Question 15

What organisation advices ministers and the NHS all about aspects of population screening?

Answer 15

UK National Screening Committee

Question 16

Give 5 key conditions from the UK Screening Committee Criteria:

Answer 16

1) the condition must be an important health problem

2) the screening test should be simple, safe and precise

3) there should be an effective intervention

4) it should be effective in reducing mortality or morbidity

5) it should be socially, ethically and economically sound