Study Guide for exam 2

Question 1

Food deserts, food access and nutrition

Answer 1

• Food insecurity, hunger
• Role of poverty in food insecurity (USA)
• Food deserts (urban and rural)
• Global food insecurity: size of the problem, differences by nations/regions, causes
• Hunger as a weapon of war
  o acts of commission, acts of omission, acts of provision
• Biology of metabolic diseases: diabetes, obesity
• Lessons from The Dutch Famine

Question 2

Community Health and Social Ecological Model

Answer 2

• Factors affecting health, behavior, & health behaviors
• Social ecological model (targeting interventions, seeing benefits)
  o Individual
  o Interpersonal
  o Organizational
  o Community
  o Policy
• Personality, learning, & learning types
• Community & Community Health
• Protective factors

Question 3

Role of Government in Public Health

Answer 3

• Role of three government branches in public health/health
• 6 Main functions of the federal government in public health
• Key federal agencies involved in public health
  o CDC, NIH, FDA, Indian Health Services, EPA
• Role of state and local public health agencies
• Tragedy of the Commons
• Controversies in public health
  o Economic impact of public health measures
  o Individual liberty
  o Moral and religious opposition
  o Political interference with science
• Unique features of public health & core values of public health
• Social justice versus market justice approaches

Question 4

Disease Trends

Answer 4

• Communicable vs non-communicable diseases
• Epidemiologic transition
• DALY
• Major contributors to disease burden: Cardiovascular disease, Cancer, Neonatal disorders
• Associations between per capita health care expenditures and life expectancy
• Genetic factors that influence health
• Infant mortality, life expectancy

Question 5

Population studies

Answer 5

• Epidemiology as a field/discipline
• Descriptive epidemiology
  o Counts and rates
  o Time, person, place
  o Population, cases, exposures
  o Case report
  o Epidemic curves
  o Hypothesis testing
• Drawing conclusions vs interpreting graphs, maps

Question 6

Methods to study Health in populations

Answer 6

• Analytic epidemiology
  o Cause & effect
• Different kinds of epidemiology study designs (you should know who is exposed / when / how, who is evaluated for health outcomes, and the strengths and limitations of the study designs)
  o Case-control studies
  o Prospective cohort studies
  o Randomized control trials

Question 7

Infectious Disease

Answer 7

• 5 main categories of pathogens
  o Features of bacteria, examples that have an impact on public health
  o Features of viruses, examples that have an impact on public health
• Routes of entry of pathogens into the body
• Antibiotics & antibiotic resistance
• Vaccinations
  o Vaccine history
  o Active and passive immunity, herd immunity
  o Vaccine testing & vaccine side-effects
• Vocabulary: Endemic, epidemic, pandemic, outbreak

Question 8

Global Health

Answer 8

• Globalization
• Movement across boundaries of:
  o Pathogens
  o Finances & trade
  o Information
  o People
  o Environmental pollutants

Question 9

Health Policy and Health Care delivery

Answer 9

• Who pays for health care? Why is controlling costs important?
• Sources of high costs, variation in costs
• Primary care
• Insurance as a way to manage risks
• Health insurance costs: premiums, deductibles, co-payments, out-of-pocket maximum
• Medicaid, Medicare
• Cultural competency & cultural humility

Question 10

Aging and Health

Answer 10

• Medicare coverage
• Demographic trends in older adults
• Risks: social determinants of health, modifiable vs non-modifiable risk factors
• Protective factors
• Specific risks for the elderly: osteoporosis, arthritis, cancer, metabolic diseases, dementia & Alzheimer’s
• Hearing, Dental, and Eye effects

Question 11

Healthcare Institutions

Answer 11

• Primary Care
• Major healthcare institutions: hospitals, rehab centers, nursing homes, continuing care retirement communities
• Safety net institutions
• For profit and non-profit health care institutions
• Additional healthcare institutions: urgent care, imaging facilities, mental health & addiction treatment centers, dialysis centers, hospice homes, birth centers, blood banks