Test 1 Flashcards
Delineate representative activities or examples of the terms used in the definition of epidemiology.
Epidemiology deals with determining the health of populations rather than the individual. The distribution of the disease deals with the frequency of the disease (ratio according population) and the pattern of disease occurrence. The determinants deal with the causes, factors of risk, mode of transmission, and elements that determine the presence of the disease
List the common objectives, uses, and core functions of epidemiology.
public health surveillance, field investigation, analytic studies, evaluation, linkages, and policy development (functions)
objectives: assist in developing public health policy, evaluate effectiveness of treatments, study natural course of disease, identify the causes of disease and those who may be at risk, determine the extent of disease, discover trends in disease in various populations over time
Describe the inter-relationship between public health and epidemiology and clinical medicine.
Clinical medicine deals with treating the individual of a disease while epidemiology works toward treating and preventing illness in a population. There are different methods to approaching disease due to the different goals in the disciplines.
Discuss Dr. John Snow. What illness was he concerned with and how he developed a process to determine the cause.
John Snow was concerned with cholera. He discovered the source of the disease to be a specific pump by actively collecting data.
Define and describe the discipline of epidemiology.
Epidemiology is a public health discipline basic science which studies the distribution and determinants of disease in populations to control disease and promote health.
Delineate the 3 factors necessary to appropriately compare disease frequencies in different populations.
- # of people impacted/affected (frequency)
- size of the source population or those at risk
- length of time population is/are affected
absolute differences
subtraction
relative difference
division
adjusted disease/mortality rates
death rate
attack rate/ incidence proportion
number of new cases within a specified time period divided by the size of the population at risk
case definitions
-a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease/condition for public health surveillance
+enable public health to classify and count cases consistently across reporting jurisdictions
case fatality rate
of case specific deaths/# of cases of disease
cause-specific morbidity rate
of persons with cause-specific disease/# of persons in population
cause-specific mortality rate
of cause-specific deaths/# of persons in population
Cause-specific survival rate
of causde-specific cases alive/# of cases of disease
CDC
Center of Disease Control
Cluster
another word for outbreak
Common source outbreak
an outbreak that occurs due to a group of individuals are exposed to an infectious agent from the same source
crude morbidity rate
of persons with disease/# of persons in population
crude mortality rate
of deaths (all causes)/# of persons in population
cumulative incidence
measure of disease frequency over time period
-new cases/ at risk population
disease registries
collections of secondary data related to patients with a specific diagnosis, condition, or procedure.
-ca play a role in surveillance of pharmaceuticals
endemic
the constant presence of disease within a given area or population in excess of normal levels in other areas
epidemic
occurrence of disease clearly in excess of normal expectancy
- community/period clearly defined
- goal is to capture disease as early as possible
fertility rate
of live births/1000 women of childbearing age (15-44)
fixed/dynamic populations
- a fixed population is one where the population is not in flux, defined by fixed characteristics
- dynamic population is one where there are gains and losses of members
frequency
counts in relation to size of the population or group of interest
incidence
new cases of the disease
of new cases of disease/# of persons at risk for disease
incidence density
-appropriate for dynamic populations and fluctuating “at risk” periods
of new cases of disease/total person time of population at risk for disease
incidence rate
- time frames for numerator and denominator must be the same
- not precise for dynamic populations
- subtract individuals that aren’t susceptible to the disease
of new cases of disease/person-time at risk for the disease
incubation period
the period between exposure to an infection and the appearance of the symptoms
induction period
time between exposure to a specific risk factor and the initiation of the disease
infant mortality rate
of deaths of those less than a year/1000 live births
infectivity
the ability of the pathogen to establish an infection/ how infectious is the pathogen
latency period
the period between exposure to a pathogen and the onset of the symptoms, synonymous with incubation
line (frequency) table
a table used for statistics, usually used to make an epidemic curve
live birth rate (natality)
of live births/1000 population
maternal mortality rate
of female deaths related to pregnancy/100,000 live births
MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)
a weekly epidemiological digest posted by the CDC
morbidity
the proportion of sickness of a specific disease(s) in a population
-crude vs cause-specific morbidity
mortality
death
neonatal mortality rate
of deaths in those
outbreak
-an epidemic limited to a localized increase in the occurrence of disease
pandemic
an epidemic occurring over a very wide area involving a large number of people (transcontinental/transglobal)
pathogenicity
the potential capacity of a certain microbe or virus to cause disease
period prevalence
prevalence at any given point in time (ex. Dec 31st)
person-time
a measurement combining the number of persons and their time contribution in a study
propagation outbreak
an epidemic in which one or more of the first wave cases serves as a source of infection for the subsequent cases, and it continues as such
National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS)
a nationwide collaboration that enables all levels of public health (local, state, federal, and international) to share notifiable disease related health information
point source outbreak
persons are exposed to the same source over a brief period of time, such as a single meal or event
postnatal mortality rate
of deaths in those >28 days but
prevalence
-number of existing cases + new cases= all cases at the time
of existing cases of a disease/# of persons in populations
prevalence rates
cases of disease/ population
point prevalence
prevalence over a given period of time (ex. over a year)
population vs sample
population is everyone that lives within a specific area whereas a sample is a small group representative of a population
proportion
comparative relation between things
proportional mortality rate
of deaths due to cause/ total number of deaths
rate
quantify the probabilities of an event
ratio
a statement of how two numbers compare
relative differences
used to compare two quantities while taking into account the sizes of the things being compared
risk
the potential of losing something of value, incidence, attack rate
secondary attack rate
the probability that infection occurs among susceptible persons within a reasonable incubation period following known contact with an infectious person or source
sentinel/index case
the first case presented during an epidemic
standardized disease/mortality rate
quantifying the increase or decrease in mortality of a study of a general population
surveillance (passive vs active)
monitoring the community for prevalence of disease
-passive: relies on healthcare system to follow regulations on required reportable diseases/conditions -> passively waits for reports to come in to track disease
-active: public health officials go into the community to search for new disease/condition cases
survival rate
of cases that survived/# of cases of disease
syndrome surveillance
a system where the physician looks for pre-defined signs/symptoms of patients, either being reported or evaluated
virulence
the degree of pathogenicity within a group or species of parasites as indicated by case fatality rates and the ability of the parasite to invade the tissue of the host
WHO
World Health Organization
Describe how duration of disease incidence impacts prevalence.
The more incidence of disease there is the more prevalent will be. Incidence is the amount of new cases whereas prevalence is number of total cases. So the incidence directly impacts the amount of prevalence in a population.
Describe what explicit factors/changes would increase and decrease the incidence and prevalence of a disease.
fs
Generate, read, and interpret various types of epidemiological curves/graphs/charts/frequency table and calculate the various measure of disease frequency listed.
Review slides and practice problems
