S1 Intro to Pop Sci and EBM

Question 1

What is population science?

Answer 1

The study of:

• populations
• people
• cause and consequence

Question 2

What do cause and consequence mean in terms of population science?

Answer 2

Cause - demography, epidemiology and statistics

Consequence - public health, health promotion, disease prevention

Question 3

What does demography mean?

Answer 3

Study of the size and shape of populations

Question 4

What does epidemiology mean?

Answer 4

Study of disease in populations

The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events and the application of this study to control diseases and other health problems

Question 5

What are statistics?

Answer 5

Study of data in numerical form

Question 6

What are the 3 domains of public health?

Answer 6

1. Health improvement
2. Health protection
3. Healthcare public health

Question 7

What is demographic transition?

Answer 7

How a population changes

Question 8

What are the 4 stages in the demographic transition model?

Answer 8

Stage 1 - pre-transition - high birth rates and high fluctuating death rates

Stage 2 - early transition - death rates begin to fall, birth rate remains high, population starts to grow rapidly

Stage 3 - late transition - birth rates start to decline, the rate of the population growth decelerates

Stage 4 - post-transition - low birth and low death rates, population growth is small or even starts to decline

Question 9

What does the burden of disease, disability and ageing depend on?

Answer 9

• population size
• population shape
• age-sex specific rates

Question 10

What 3 factors are population health affected by?

Answer 10

1. Demographic shape e.g. age-sex proportions
2. Economic composition e.g. wealth distribution
3. Behavioural and lifestyle factors e.g. diet and exercise

Question 11

What is evidence based medicine (EBM)?

Answer 11

Conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients

(Integration of best research evidence, clinical expertise and patient values)

Question 12

What is wrong with the process of identifying basic process, deducing a sensible course of action and applying it the situation?

Answer 12

Often make the same mistake with increasing certainty over an increasing number of years

Question 13

What are the two types of study design?

Answer 13

1. Quantitative

2. Qualitative

Question 14

What are the two types of quantitative study design?

Answer 14

1. Observational

2. Experimental

Question 15

What are the 3 types of observational descriptive studies?

Answer 15

1. Case reports and case series - identifies new emerging diseases
2. Cross-sectional studies - prevalence
3. Correlational studies/ecological

Question 16

What are the 2 types of experimental interventional studies?

Answer 16

1. Controlled trials - compare results from two treatment pathways
2. Randomised controlled trials - compare two treatments reducing bias/confounding

Question 17

What is PICOS?

Answer 17

Population/patient group
Intervention/investigation considered
Comparator/control
(Outcomes considered)
(Study design)

Question 18

What is the best study?

Answer 18

Systematic randomised control trial