Week 6

Question 2

what is routine data

Answer 2

data collected routinely
- in a standardised and consistent way
- for administrative purposes rather than targeted at a specific study

Question 3

why do we need routine data

Answer 3

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

Question 4

advantages of routine data

Answer 4

often covers large populations, even whole countries
readily available and cheap

Question 5

routine data can be used for?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

disadvantages of routine data

Answer 6

often not up to date
can be incomplete
variable of interest may not be collected
can be influenced by political pressure or financial constraints

Question 7

population census

Answer 7

periodic count of number and characteristics of people by region

Question 8

other routine data

Answer 8

birth, death, marriage and divorce registration

Question 9

crude mortality rate

Answer 9

total no. of deaths
/
total population for specific time period

Question 10

what is standardisation

Answer 10

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

Question 11

direct standardisation

Answer 11

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

Question 12

indirect standardisation

Answer 12

find number of deaths expected if both populations had the same (standard) age-specific death rates, but kept their real age structure

Question 13

standard mortality ration (SMR)

Answer 13

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