Test 1 Epidemiology for Pharmacists

Question 1

Vioxx

Answer 1

• cases of heart attacks and CV events
• NSAID
• Merk hid this data

Question 2

phenylpropanolamine (PPA)

Answer 2

• in cough / cold products
• in weight loss products
• started causing strokes in young women within the first few doses

Question 3

Epidemiology

Answer 3

study of what comes upon people

Question 4

Who is the founder of public health?

Answer 4

• John Snow

- London cholera outbreak

Question 5

Goals of Epidemiology

Answer 5

1. Measurement of health outcome
2. Occurrence of adverse clinical events
3. Degree of therapeutic response achieved
4. Success in preventing or reducing morbidity & mortality

Question 6

Morbidity

Answer 6

Long term disability or disease

Question 7

Mortality

Answer 7

Deaths attributed to the disease

Question 8

Types of measures used

Answer 8

• counts
• proportions
• ratios
• rates

Question 9

Incidence

Answer 9

Development of NEW cases of disease that occur

Question 10

Cumulative incidence (CI)
(proportion)

Answer 10

(Number of new cases during specified period of time) / (Total population at risk during specified period of time)

Question 11

Prevalence

Answer 11

• Total number of disease cases in the total population at a given point in time
• Quantifies the burden of disease
• (Number of cases) / (Number in total population)

Question 12

Types of epidemiology study designs

Answer 12

• Observational: cohort, case-control

- Experimental: RCT

Question 13

RCT design

Answer 13

• we use this to test efficacy in order to approve drugs
• efficacy does not equal effectiveness
• random assignments to groups

Question 14

Cohort study

Answer 14

• two groups: exposed and non-exposed
• groups studied over time to see what happens
• Framingham heart study
• results: relative risks

Question 15

Relative risk (RR)

Answer 15

• Ratio of cumulative incidence rates
• compares the number of people who are at risk of disease after being exposed with number of people who got the disease but were not exposed

Question 16

RR values

Answer 16

• 1: both exposed and non-exposed have equal likelihood of getting disease
• > 1: exposure increases the likelihood of disease
• <1: exposure is protective and decreases likelihood of disease

Question 17

Calculating Relative risk

Answer 17

[ a/(a+b) ] / [ c/(c+d) ]

Question 18

Case-control study

Answer 18

• Selects individuals based on disease status
• go back and determine if they were exposed to a risk
• results: odds ratio

Question 19

Odds ratios

Answer 19

used to compare likelihood that people who have the disease were exposed to those who were not exposed

Question 20

Odds ratios values

Answer 20

• 1: indicates equal odds, cases exposed or not exposed
• > 1: indicates increased likelihood that cases were exposed to causal factor
• <1: indicates exposure conferred some protective effect against disease

Question 21

Calculating Odds ratios

Answer 21

(ad) / (bc)

Question 22

Calculations

Answer 22

Exposed
- Disease A
- No disease B
Not exposed 
- Disease C
- No disease D