Epidemiology Final Exam Study Guide

Active Surveillance - CORRECT ANSWER It is often used if an outbreak has begun or is suspected to keep close track of the number of cases. Age-adjusted rates - CORRECT ANSWER Is used to allow populations to be compared when the age profiles of the populations are different Association - CORRECT ANSWER social units based on age, gender, or common interest Autonomy - CORRECT ANSWER The right of individuals to decide things for themselves Belmont Report - CORRECT ANSWER summarizes ethical principles and guidelines for research involving human subjects Bias - CORRECT ANSWER a systematic error in a study that will effect the outcome. Blinding - CORRECT ANSWER an aspect of study design where the subject is not ware of his/her group assignment of placebo or treatment; seeks to alleviate bias in the study results Case-control study - CORRECT ANSWER A study that compares individuals who have a disease with individuals who do not have the disease in order to examine differences in exposure or risk factors of the disease Cause - CORRECT ANSWER act, event, or state of nature that permits/initiates alone or in conjunction with other causes, a sequence of events resulting in an effect Cohort Study - CORRECT ANSWER Start with a group of individuals apparently free of the disease of interest. This group, or cohort, is divided into those exposed to a possible risk factor and those not exposed,and is then followed through time - in order to determine the incidence rate among the exposed and the unexposed. Confounding - CORRECT ANSWER when more than once factor contribute to a cause. Unable to distinguish. Example: question for project (full-time job) Contingency table - CORRECT ANSWER A cross-classification of data where categories of one variable are presented in rows and categories of another variable are presented in columns. (2x2 table) Control Group - CORRECT ANSWER People who participate in a trial, but do not get the treatment. Cross-sectional study - CORRECT ANSWER An observational study in which exposure and disease are determined at the same time in a given population Descriptive epidemiology - CORRECT ANSWER Characterizes the amount and distribution of health and disease within a population Denominator - CORRECT ANSWER lower portion of a fraction used to calculate rate or ratio. Double blind - CORRECT ANSWER denoting a test or trial, especially of a drug, in which any information that may influence the behavior of the TESTER or the subject is withheld until after the test. Exposure - CORRECT ANSWER contact with a disease causing factor, the amount of the factor that impinges upon a group of individuals External Validity - CORRECT ANSWER the results can be generalized beyond the study. Generalizability - CORRECT ANSWER applying results from a study sample to the larger population from which the sample was selected.