NR-503 Epidemiology Midterm Question and
Answer | 100% Verified A+ | Past Questions
• Epidemiology -✓✓the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease
in populations. Who gets sick and why?
• Purpose of epidemiology -✓✓To help control and limit the spread of pathogens and
other health problems
• Epidemiologists study: -✓✓sick/healthy people: to determine crucial differences
between those who get a disease and those who do not
exposed/non-exposed people: to determine the crucial effect of the exposure
• Exposure -✓✓Any factor that may be associated with an outcome of interest. Can be
behaviors, policies and laws, environment, demographics, health states, etc
• Behavior exposure examples -✓✓Smoking status, diet, physical activity level
• Policies and law exposure examples -✓✓Gun laws, cigarette taxes, trans fat bans
• Environment exposure examples -✓✓Air pollution exposure, pesticide levels, heavy
metals
• Demographic exposure examples -✓✓Age, sex, religion, occupation, socioeconomic
status
• Health states exposure examples -✓✓High blood pressure depression, diabetes
• Epidemic -✓✓The occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness, specific
health-related behavior, or other health-related events clearly in excess of normal
expectancy
Ex. Mexico smallpox epidemic of 1520
• Endemic -✓✓Constantly present in a certain population or region, with relatively low
spread (or there may be periods where it doesn't affect people at all, if it is only present
in the environment)
• Pandemic -✓✓An epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing
international boundaries, and usually affecting a large number of people
, • Descriptive epidemiology -✓✓Refers to studies concerned with characterizing the
amount and distribution of health and disease within a population. Key questions
include: Who? (person) Where? (place) When? (Time)
• Analytic epidemiology -✓✓Examines causal (etiologic) hypotheses regarding the
association between exposures and health conditions
• Natural experiments -✓✓One type of analytical epidemiology study design that uses
naturally occurring circumstances that resemble an actual experiment. Subsets of the
population "naturally" have different levels of an exposure. Exposure is hypothesized to
contribute to a health outcome/disease
• Hippocrates (460-370BC) -✓✓Greek authority who rejected the notion that disease
had supernatural origins; suggested that disease might be associated with
environmental factors
• Black Death -✓✓Epidemic that ravaged medieval Europe, killing 1/3 of their
population. Thought to be an epidemic of bubonic plague, caused by a bacterial
infection. Characterized by swollen lymph nodes, fever, and appearance of black
splotches on the skin
• Paracelsus (1493-1541) -✓✓One of the founders of the field of toxicology, coined the
famous saying that "the dose makes the poison", famous for his clear description of the
target organ concept
• John Graunt (1620-1674) -✓✓Recorded descriptive characteristics of birth and death
data, first to employ quantitative methods, known as the "Columbus of statistics"
• Ramazzini (1633-1714) -✓✓Regarded as the founder of the field of occupational
medicine
• Sir Percival Pott (1714-1788) -✓✓Thought to be the first person to describe an
environmental cause of cancer, observed that chimney sweeps had a high incidence of
scrotal cancer
• Edward Jenner (1749-1823) -✓✓Developed a method for smallpox vaccination in 1796
• John Snow (1813-1858) -✓✓Used mapping and data tables to track the cause of
cholera in mid-19th century London
• The Contemporary Era (1940-present) -✓✓- Long term cohort studies investigate risk
factors for numerous chronic diseases
- Epidemic Intelligence Service established in 1949 by CDC; works to investigate and
control infectious disease outbreaks and respond to natural disasters
- Smallpox eradication through highly effective surveillance and vaccination programs
Answer | 100% Verified A+ | Past Questions
• Epidemiology -✓✓the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease
in populations. Who gets sick and why?
• Purpose of epidemiology -✓✓To help control and limit the spread of pathogens and
other health problems
• Epidemiologists study: -✓✓sick/healthy people: to determine crucial differences
between those who get a disease and those who do not
exposed/non-exposed people: to determine the crucial effect of the exposure
• Exposure -✓✓Any factor that may be associated with an outcome of interest. Can be
behaviors, policies and laws, environment, demographics, health states, etc
• Behavior exposure examples -✓✓Smoking status, diet, physical activity level
• Policies and law exposure examples -✓✓Gun laws, cigarette taxes, trans fat bans
• Environment exposure examples -✓✓Air pollution exposure, pesticide levels, heavy
metals
• Demographic exposure examples -✓✓Age, sex, religion, occupation, socioeconomic
status
• Health states exposure examples -✓✓High blood pressure depression, diabetes
• Epidemic -✓✓The occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness, specific
health-related behavior, or other health-related events clearly in excess of normal
expectancy
Ex. Mexico smallpox epidemic of 1520
• Endemic -✓✓Constantly present in a certain population or region, with relatively low
spread (or there may be periods where it doesn't affect people at all, if it is only present
in the environment)
• Pandemic -✓✓An epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing
international boundaries, and usually affecting a large number of people
, • Descriptive epidemiology -✓✓Refers to studies concerned with characterizing the
amount and distribution of health and disease within a population. Key questions
include: Who? (person) Where? (place) When? (Time)
• Analytic epidemiology -✓✓Examines causal (etiologic) hypotheses regarding the
association between exposures and health conditions
• Natural experiments -✓✓One type of analytical epidemiology study design that uses
naturally occurring circumstances that resemble an actual experiment. Subsets of the
population "naturally" have different levels of an exposure. Exposure is hypothesized to
contribute to a health outcome/disease
• Hippocrates (460-370BC) -✓✓Greek authority who rejected the notion that disease
had supernatural origins; suggested that disease might be associated with
environmental factors
• Black Death -✓✓Epidemic that ravaged medieval Europe, killing 1/3 of their
population. Thought to be an epidemic of bubonic plague, caused by a bacterial
infection. Characterized by swollen lymph nodes, fever, and appearance of black
splotches on the skin
• Paracelsus (1493-1541) -✓✓One of the founders of the field of toxicology, coined the
famous saying that "the dose makes the poison", famous for his clear description of the
target organ concept
• John Graunt (1620-1674) -✓✓Recorded descriptive characteristics of birth and death
data, first to employ quantitative methods, known as the "Columbus of statistics"
• Ramazzini (1633-1714) -✓✓Regarded as the founder of the field of occupational
medicine
• Sir Percival Pott (1714-1788) -✓✓Thought to be the first person to describe an
environmental cause of cancer, observed that chimney sweeps had a high incidence of
scrotal cancer
• Edward Jenner (1749-1823) -✓✓Developed a method for smallpox vaccination in 1796
• John Snow (1813-1858) -✓✓Used mapping and data tables to track the cause of
cholera in mid-19th century London
• The Contemporary Era (1940-present) -✓✓- Long term cohort studies investigate risk
factors for numerous chronic diseases
- Epidemic Intelligence Service established in 1949 by CDC; works to investigate and
control infectious disease outbreaks and respond to natural disasters
- Smallpox eradication through highly effective surveillance and vaccination programs
