public_health_20231205142339 Flashcards
What is a case-control study?
A retrospective and observational study used to determine if there is an association between an exposure and a specific health outcome
What are the advantages of case-control studies?
Good for rare outcomes
Quicker than cohort or intervention studies
Can investigate multiple exposures
What are the disadvantages of case-control studies?
Difficulties finding controls to match with cases
Prone to selection and information bias
Cannot determine causality
Not good for rare exposures
What is a cohort study?
An epidemiological study where a group of individuals with a particular characteristic are followed up over time
What are the advantages of a cohort study?
Can follow up a group with a rare exposure Good for common outcomes Can investigate multiple outcomes Less risk of selection and recall bias
What are the disadvantages of a cohort study?
Takes a long time
Loss to follow up
Need a large sample size
What is a cross-sectional study?
An observational study that analyses data from a specific population at one point in time (snapshot)
What are the advantages of a cross-sectional study?
Relatively cheap and quick
Provide data on prevalence at a single point in time
Large sample size
Good for surveillance and public health planning
What are the disadvantages of a cross-sectional study?
Risk of reverse causality (did the exposure or outcome come first?)
Cannot measure incidence
Risk recall bias and non-response
What is a randomised controlled trial?
Subjects are randomly assigned to one of two groups - one receiving the intervention that is being tested, and one receiving an alternative (conventional) intervention
What are the advantages of a RCT?
Low risk of bias and confounding
Can infer causality
What are the disadvantages of a RCT?
Time consuming
Expensive
Specific inclusion/exclusion criteria may mean the study population is different from typical patients
Drop outs
What is selection bias?
A systematic error in the selection of study participants and allocation of participants to different study groups
Why does selection bias occur?
Non-response
Loss to follow up
Those in an intervention group might be different in some way to those in the control group
What types of information bias are there?
Measurement bias
Observer bias
Recall bias
Reporting bias
What is measurement bias?
Different equipment used to measure the outcome in the different groups
What is observer bias?
The researcher knows which participants are cases and which are controls and subconsciously reports the exposure or outcome differently depending on the group
What is recall bias?
Events that happened in the past are not correctly remembered and reported accurately
What is reporting bias?
Respondants report inaccurate information because they are embarassed or feel judged
What is confounding?
A situation in which the estimate between an exposure and an outcome is distorted because of the association with another factor that is also independently associated with the outcome
What is reverse causality?
A situation when an association between an exposure and an outcome could be due to the outcome causing the exposure
What factors increase the likelihood of causality?
Strength of association
Consistency of results
Dose-response association
Plausibility
Reversibility
Coherence with other information
What is the purpose of screening?
Identifying apparently well individuals who have a particular disease in order to reduce adverse outcomes
What are the disadvantages of screening?
Exposure of well individuals to distressing or harmful diagnostic tests Detection and treatment of sub-clinical disease that would never have caused any problems Preventative interventions that may cause harm to the individual or population
What is sensitivity?
The proportion of those with the disease who are correctly identified by the screening programme
What is specificity?
The proportion of people without the disease who are correctly excluded by the screening programme
What is the positive predictive value?
Proportion of people with a positive test result who actually have the disease
What is the negative predictive value?
Proportion of people with a negative test result who do not have the disease
What makes a condition suitable for screening?
The condition should be an important health problem
The epidemiology and natural history of the condition should be well understood
Cost effective primary prevention measures should have been implemented as far as possible
If carriers of a mutation are identified, as well as disease, the implications of this should be understood
What makes a screening programme suitable?
Screening should be ongoing and not just performed on a one off basis
The costs of the programme should be balanced in relation to healthcare spending as a whole
What makes a test suitable for a screening programme?
There should be a simple, safe, precise and validated test
The distribution of test values in the target population should be known, and a suitable cutoff identified
The test should be acceptable to the population
There should be an agreed policy on further diagnostic investigations
What makes a treatment suitable for a condition being screened for?
There should be an effective treatment or intervention for patients identified through early detection
There should be evidence that early treatment leads to better outcomes
There should be a policy as to which individuals should be offered treatment
Clinical management of the condition should be optimised in all health care providers prior to screening
What is lead time bias?
When screening identifies an outcome earlier than it would otherwise have been, this results in an apparent increase in survival time, even if screening has no effect on the actual outcome
What is length time bias?
Bias resulting from differences in the length of time taken for a condition to progress to severe effects, may affect the apparent efficacy of a screening method
What are the approaches to health needs assessment?
Epidemiological approach
Corporate approach
Comparative approach
What is an epidemiological approach to health needs assessment?
An approach to health needs assessment based on:-
Disease incidence and prevalence
- Morbidity and mortality
- - Life expectnacy
- - Services available
- - Sources of data
What are the advanatages of an epidemiological approach?
Uses existing data
Provides data on disease incidence/mortality and morbidity
Can evaluate services by trends over time
What are the disadvantages of an epidemiological approach?
Quality of data variable
Data collected may not be the data required
Does not consider the felt needs or opinions/experienes of the people affected
What is a corporate approach to health needs assessment?
An approach to health needs assessment that asks the local population and a wide range of stakeholders what their health needs are - through focus groups, interbiews and public meeting
What are the advantages of a corporate approach?
Based on the felt and expresed needs of the population in question
Recognises the detailed knowledge and experience of those working with the population
Takes into account a wide range of views
What are the disadvantages of a corporate approach?
Difficult to distinguish need from demand
Groups may have vested interests
May be influences by political agendas
What is a comparative approach to health needs assessment?
An approach to health needs assessment that compares the health or healthcare provision of one population to another
What are the advantages of a comparative approach?
Quick and cheap if data is available
Indicates whether health or services provision is better/worse than comparable areas
What are the disadvantages of a comparative approach?
May be difficult to find a comparable population
Data may not be high quality
May not yield what the most appropriate level of provision should be
What is equity?
Equity is about what is fair and just