Week 6 Flashcards
what is routine data
data collected routinely
- in a standardised and consistent way
- for administrative purposes rather than targeted at a specific study
why do we need routine data
for descriptive epidemiology
- to measure disease prevalence by groups of persons at risk, place and time
- to plan/assess disease prevention and patient management strategies
demography- study of human populations
advantages of routine data
often covers large populations, even whole countries
readily available and cheap
routine data can be used for?
to generate hypotheses
to assess a population and describe its baseline characteristics
to estimate disease prevalence or incidence of events -> sample size calculations when planning detailed studies
disadvantages of routine data
often not up to date
can be incomplete
variable of interest may not be collected
can be influenced by political pressure or financial constraints
population census
periodic count of number and characteristics of people by region
other routine data
birth, death, marriage and divorce registration
crude mortality rate
total no. of deaths
/
total population for specific time period
what is standardisation
often used to control for confounding effects of age so that rates of disease or mortality can be compared in populations with different age structures
direct standardisation
take the age specific rates from population of interest
apply them to a standard population
calculate the new death rate
- if the age specific rates had occurred in the standard population
obtain an age standardised rate which adjusts for the effect of age
indirect standardisation
find number of deaths expected if both populations had the same (standard) age-specific death rates, but kept their real age structure
standard mortality ration (SMR)
a measure expressed as either a ratio or percentage, to quantify an increase or decrease in mortality in a study cohort compared to the general population
calculated from expected deaths in study population
- had the population experienced the same age specific rates as the general population
= O/ Ex 100