public health Flashcards
what are the two types of stress? define them.
distress = stress that is harmful. eustress = stress that is beneficial and motivating.
give examples of internal and external stressors.
internal = physical or psychological. external = work, environment, social and cultural.
how do we respond to stress?
fight and flight. tense muscles, increase breathing rate, increase heart rate, sweating.
what are the 3 steps of adaptation syndrome?
alarm = adrenaline release, adaptation = cortisol. and exhaustion.
what is the interaction model?
stress = interaction between person and the environment.
what are the 5 signs of stress?
biochemical = endorphin levels raised, cortisol raised. physiological = BP raised, breathing rate increased, increased stomach acid production. behavioural = eating pattern change, sleep change, increase in smoking/drinking. cognitive = negative thought, loss of concentration. emotional = tearful, mood swings, aggressive.
how does one manage stress?
social support, exercise
what is the definition of health?
a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing
what is incidence?
the number of new cases per unit time.
what is prevalence?
the number of existing cases at a point in time.
what are true positive and true negative results?
tested postitive and is positive. tested positive and is not positive.
what is sensitivity?
the number of true positives/all positives. tells you how well the test is picking up disease.
what is specificity?
the number of true negatives/total negatives. how well the test is picking up those without the disease.
what are the 4 reasons for screening?
prevent suffering, earlier treatment, earlier treatment is cheaper, top patient satisfaction
what are the 3 reasons against screening?
no personal choice, can cause people unnecessary stress is they get false positive
what is primary prevention?
preventing disease from happening, immunisation
what is secondary prevention?
slowing the progress of disease by detecting it early, e.g. screening
what is tertiary prevention?
limiting the adverse affects of disease
what is the prevention paradox?
the decision to target a smaller group more at risk or a larger group less at risk.
what are the 4 lifestyle changes to protect against CHD?
SNAP. smoking, nutrition, alcohol, physical activity.
what condition have improvements in social conditions had the biggest impact on?
TB
what determines health in a society?
the extent of income division between social classes, not the average income.
what is social class?
a measure of occupation, stratification, social position and access to power and resources.
what is the inverse care law?
the availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need for it within a population
when does an individual leave the prevalence pool?
either die or cured.
what are the reasons for smoking?
nicotine addiction, coping with stress, fear of weight gain, social habitat
what are the stages of quitting smoking?
precontemplation, contemplation, preparing to change, action (v6 months), maintenance (^6 months)
what does iatrogenesis mean?
an unintended adverse affect from a therapeutic intervention.
what is the nudge theory?
changing the environment to make the healthy option the easiest option.
what are the stages of changing health behaviour?
pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparing to change, action, maintainance
what is public health concerned with?
health promotion, protection and improving and organising health sciences.
how much of the worlds population is it developing countries? how much global health spending do they account for?
84%, 11%
what are the world 8 development aims by 2015?
3 are health related.
what is the positive predictive value?
proportion of people with a positive test result whom actually have the disease
what is the negative predictive value?
the proportion of people without the disease who are correctly excluded by the screening test.
what happens to the predictive values if a disease becomes more prevalent?
the positive predictive value goes up because there are less false positives. the negative predictive value therefore decreases.
give some examples of screening tests
Guthrie test - sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis. green tie disease
what are the screening principles?
the condition should be serious. there should be a suitable test. there should be effective treatment available. there should be diagnosis and treatment facilities available. there should be recognition of a condition at latent or early stage. the costs should be balanced. cause findings should be a continuous process. there should be an agreed policy on who to screen. the test should be acceptable to the population. natural history of the disease should be known.
what are the two approaches of the prevention paradox?
high risk - those at higher risk. population approach - target all individuals to lower the risk for everyone.
who does high risk benefit more?
affluent and better educated people because they are more likely to go to the health services and comply with treatment.
why is the population approach beneficial?
usually reduces social inequalities
what medications are used to treat CHD?
anti-hypertensives, statins, metformin/insulins.
what are the phases of cardiac rehabilitation?
phase 1 - in hospital, phase 2 - early post-discharge. phase 3 - 4-16 weeks. phase 4 - long term maintenance of SNAP.
what is involved in secondary prevention of CHD?
primary care CHD registers, medicing: Asprin, B-blockers, ACE inhibitors, statins. phase 4 cardiac rehabilitation.
unmodifiable risk factors for CHD.
sex, age, fam history, ethnicity, early life circumstances.
modifiable?
physiological/clinical: high cholesterol, hypertension, Diabetes type 2. other: smoking, physical activity, poor nutrition, alcohol, overweight
What does evidence based practice involve?
Asking focused questions, finding evidence, critical appraisal, making a decision, evaluating performance.
Asking focused questions: PICO?
Population, intervention, comparison, outcome
What is the hierarchy of evidence?
1a = systematic review. 1b = randomised control trial. 2a = control trial without randomisation. 2b = other type of quasi-experimental study. Continues to level 4 but others are shit
What is the purpose of critical appraisal?
Consider validity, reliability and applicability
What is reliability? what is validity? what is applicability?
How consistent results are. how close to the truth results are. How relevant a study is to clinical medicine.
what should a good study show?
randomly allocate participants to interventions, have outcome measures for over 80% of participants. show causation rather than association.
how can you categorise a study?
observational or experimental.
how can you categorise observational studies?
descriptive, analytical or both
give an example of a descriptive study.
ecological studies. case reports follow individuals. results are association not causation.
give an example of a descriptive and analytical study.
cross sectional study/survey.
what is a cross sectional study/survey?
divides population into those with and without the disease. used to generate hypotheses but can be biased.
give an example of an analytical study?
case control study. cohort study.
what is a cross case control study?
retrospective method. match someone with the disease to someone without the disease that is similar in age, sex, class etc. and look at what they were exposed to. only shows association and can be problems with patients remembering stuff.
what is a cohort study?
start with a population without the disease and study them over a period of time to see if they are exposed to the agent in question and if they consequently do get the disease or not. lower chance of bias. establishes causation.
give examples of experimental trials.
randomised control trial. non randomised control trial.
what are randomised control trials?
large expensive study involving patients being split into two groups. one receives intervention and one receives a control. bias is minimal. shows causation.