Surveillance, Data, and Descriptive Epidemiology

Question 1

Backbone of Public Health

Answer 1

Surveillance

Question 2

Passive vs. Active vs. Sentinel Surveillance

Answer 2

Passive: docs report in
Active: agency goes out surveying
Sentinel: Pre-arrangement for hospitals/docs to report specific things in specific area

Question 3

Primary vs. Secondary Data

Answer 3

Data you collect deliberately to answer question vs. available data collected by others that you can then access

Question 4

Descriptive Epidemiology

Answer 4

Characterizes distribution of disease w/in population by gathering, summarizing, and expressing data using measures of central tendency and variability. Does NOT test for statistical association and stuff - only hypothesis generation

Question 5

Cyclic Fluctuations

Answer 5

Changes in freq of disease during specified periods of time, like insect-born when insects come out

Question 6

Point Epidemics

Answer 6

Group of individuals exposed simultaneously (bad potato salad at church picnic)

Question 7

Secular Time Trends

Answer 7

Changes in freq of disease over long period of time, like decline of heart disease

Question 8

Cohort Effects

Answer 8

Membership in particular group, like baby boomers, yields common exposures

Question 9

Temporal Clustering

Answer 9

Disease comes after predictive event, like post-partum depression