Epidemiology and Biostatistics Exam Questions with Correct Answers

epidemiology - ANSWER-the study of the distribution and determinants of disease frequency in human populations prevalent cases - ANSWER-number of persons who have a disease at a specific point in time; this is considered numerator data prevalence - ANSWER-the proportion of the population with a particular disease at a specific point in time pre-test probability - ANSWER-the chance that any one person selected at random from a population will have the disease of interest prevalence - ANSWER-another term for pre-test probability incident disease events - ANSWER-occurrences of a disease during a specified observation period; one person may experience more than one such disease event during the time period (e.g., 2 colds in one year). incident cases - ANSWER-the number of persons who develop a disease during a specified observation period; each person is counted only once, regardless of the number of disease events cumulative incidence - ANSWER-the proportion of new cases observed in the population at risk during the specified observation period; estimates the probability that an individual chosen at random from the population will develop the disease during the specified time period incidence rate - ANSWER-the rate at which new cases develop in a population, relative to the size of the population; the number of new cases per person-(time at risk) incidence rate - ANSWER-other words for this term include hazard and incidence density incidence - ANSWER-a measure of new cases of disease which occur in a population at risk during a specified period of observation mortality - ANSWER-the incidence of death in a population during a specified period of time cumulative incidence - ANSWER-the most common way to evaluate risk