NR-503 Epidemiology Final Exam Questions
and Answers 100% Correct (verified)
• Two assumptions inherent in epi studies -✓✓1. Diseases are NOT randomly
distributed in populations.
2. Diseases have specific causes that can be identified, prevented, and treated.
• Functions of Epidemiology -✓✓- To discover the agent, host, and environmental
factors which affect health, in order to provide the scientific basis for the prevention of
disease and injury and the promotion of health.
- To determine the relative importance of causes of illness, disability, and death, in order
to establish priorities for research and action.
- To identify those sections of the population which have the greatest risk from specific
causes of ill health, in order that the indicated action may be directed appropriately.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of health programs and services in improving the health
of the population.
• Objectives of Epidemiology -✓✓1. To identify the etiology (cause) of a disease and the
risk factors associated with the disease.
2. To determine the extent of disease found in the community. What is the burden of
disease?
3. To study the natural history and prognosis of the disease
4. To evaluate both existing and new preventative and therapeutic measures and
modes of health care delivery
5. To provide the foundation for developing public policy and regulatory decisions
relating to epidemiologic problems
• Issues in Epidemiology -✓✓-Where there is a link between factor and health outcome -
does this mean the factor is the cause of disease?
-Is there is an association, does the amount of disease vary according to the amount of
exposure to the factor?
-Based on the observation of such an association, what practical steps should
individuals and public health departments take?
-Do the findings from an epidemiologic study merit panic or measured response?
-How applicable are the findings to settings other than the one in which the research
was conducted?
• Epidemiological Approach -✓✓-Observation
-Definition of disease process
-Descriptive epidemiology
-Analytical Epidemiology
-Experimental Epidemiology
, • Surveillance -✓✓Ongoing and systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of
health related data
-Assess public health status, define public health problems, evaluate programs,
stimulate research
• Primary prevention -✓✓prevention or cessation of risk factor exposure (active or
passive)
• Secondary prevention -✓✓intent to reduce progress of disease, screenings for "high
risk" subjects - detection. Involves people who already have a disease.
• Tertiary prevention -✓✓reduces limitation of disability from disease.
• Population-based approach/public health approach: -✓✓-Applied to whole population,
dietary modification, must be inexpensive and non-invasive
• High-risk approach (clinically based): -✓✓-Expensive or invasive (ie. colonscopy for
those with family history, cholesterol screening for children from high risk families)
• Hippocrates -✓✓400 BC - Found that disease is associated with physical environment
• Francis Bacon -✓✓Inductive logic, Law of Mortality --> law of epidemics.
• Royal Society of London -✓✓1662 - John Graunt published a comparative study of
mortality and morbidity in human populations. Referred to as the Columbus of Statistics.
Quantified patterns of disease.
• James Lind -✓✓1747 - etiology and treatment of scurvy, use of comparison group.
-Noticed high morbidity rate among sailors
-Noticed diet among sailors at sea hard on digestion
-Conducted experimental trial using comparison group
• Edward Jenner -✓✓1768 - use of observational data
• Pierre Charles-Alexandre Louis -✓✓comparison of groups of individuals, emphasized
use of statistical methods in medicine
• William Farr -✓✓Mortality surveillance, use of vital statistics,
-In charge of medical statistics in the Office of the Registrar General for England (1839)
-Set up a system for routine compilation of the numbers and causes of deaths
-Addressed many issues relevant to modern epidemiology including case definition,
using comparison populations, and addressing confounding factors such as age.
• John Snow -✓✓- "Father of Epidemiology"
and Answers 100% Correct (verified)
• Two assumptions inherent in epi studies -✓✓1. Diseases are NOT randomly
distributed in populations.
2. Diseases have specific causes that can be identified, prevented, and treated.
• Functions of Epidemiology -✓✓- To discover the agent, host, and environmental
factors which affect health, in order to provide the scientific basis for the prevention of
disease and injury and the promotion of health.
- To determine the relative importance of causes of illness, disability, and death, in order
to establish priorities for research and action.
- To identify those sections of the population which have the greatest risk from specific
causes of ill health, in order that the indicated action may be directed appropriately.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of health programs and services in improving the health
of the population.
• Objectives of Epidemiology -✓✓1. To identify the etiology (cause) of a disease and the
risk factors associated with the disease.
2. To determine the extent of disease found in the community. What is the burden of
disease?
3. To study the natural history and prognosis of the disease
4. To evaluate both existing and new preventative and therapeutic measures and
modes of health care delivery
5. To provide the foundation for developing public policy and regulatory decisions
relating to epidemiologic problems
• Issues in Epidemiology -✓✓-Where there is a link between factor and health outcome -
does this mean the factor is the cause of disease?
-Is there is an association, does the amount of disease vary according to the amount of
exposure to the factor?
-Based on the observation of such an association, what practical steps should
individuals and public health departments take?
-Do the findings from an epidemiologic study merit panic or measured response?
-How applicable are the findings to settings other than the one in which the research
was conducted?
• Epidemiological Approach -✓✓-Observation
-Definition of disease process
-Descriptive epidemiology
-Analytical Epidemiology
-Experimental Epidemiology
, • Surveillance -✓✓Ongoing and systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of
health related data
-Assess public health status, define public health problems, evaluate programs,
stimulate research
• Primary prevention -✓✓prevention or cessation of risk factor exposure (active or
passive)
• Secondary prevention -✓✓intent to reduce progress of disease, screenings for "high
risk" subjects - detection. Involves people who already have a disease.
• Tertiary prevention -✓✓reduces limitation of disability from disease.
• Population-based approach/public health approach: -✓✓-Applied to whole population,
dietary modification, must be inexpensive and non-invasive
• High-risk approach (clinically based): -✓✓-Expensive or invasive (ie. colonscopy for
those with family history, cholesterol screening for children from high risk families)
• Hippocrates -✓✓400 BC - Found that disease is associated with physical environment
• Francis Bacon -✓✓Inductive logic, Law of Mortality --> law of epidemics.
• Royal Society of London -✓✓1662 - John Graunt published a comparative study of
mortality and morbidity in human populations. Referred to as the Columbus of Statistics.
Quantified patterns of disease.
• James Lind -✓✓1747 - etiology and treatment of scurvy, use of comparison group.
-Noticed high morbidity rate among sailors
-Noticed diet among sailors at sea hard on digestion
-Conducted experimental trial using comparison group
• Edward Jenner -✓✓1768 - use of observational data
• Pierre Charles-Alexandre Louis -✓✓comparison of groups of individuals, emphasized
use of statistical methods in medicine
• William Farr -✓✓Mortality surveillance, use of vital statistics,
-In charge of medical statistics in the Office of the Registrar General for England (1839)
-Set up a system for routine compilation of the numbers and causes of deaths
-Addressed many issues relevant to modern epidemiology including case definition,
using comparison populations, and addressing confounding factors such as age.
• John Snow -✓✓- "Father of Epidemiology"
