Section 2: 6 Section 1 - Combined Flashcards
What are the issues that epidemiology can address?
Disease Mortality Hospitalization Disability Quality of Life Health Status
What is the numerator used by epidemiologists to calculate disease frequency?
– the number of people to whom something
happened (i.e., they got sick, died, etc.)
What is the denominator used by epidemiologists to calculate disease frequency?
– the population at risk – all the people at
risk for the event
What is three primary sources of data on health and disease in the U.S.?
- The National Center for Health Statistics
- The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
- Consumer Products Safety Commission
What is a primary source of data on health and disease worldwide?
World Health Organization
Contrast the main units of concern between epidemiology and medicine
For medicine, it’s the individual. For epidemiology, it’s the population.
How does epidemiology differ from public health?
Epidemiology is one of many disciplines that comprise public health. It is a “study of” and public health is an activity.
How does the WHO definition of health differ from the medical definition?
The medical definition is simply the absence of disease, while WHO includes “physical, mental, and social well-being.”
Define morbidity
related to disease or disability
Define mortality
related to death
Define occurrence of disease
prevalence or incidence of disease & health-related conditions
Define endemic
normal occurrence of a condition
Define epidemic
greater than normal occurrence of a condition
Define pandemic
epidemic on multiple continents
How has epidemiology evolved in the 20th century?
transition from acute contagious to chronic non-contagious causes of morbidity; – Morbidity shifted to older age groups and “degenerative diseases”
What were the top 5 causes of death in 1900?
1. Pneumonia / influenza 2 TB 3 Diarrhea 4 Heart disease* 5 Cerebrovascular* * Large % had infectious component