epidemiology correct answers the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related
states in specified populations, and the application of this study to control health problems
cluster correct answers a group of cases in a certain place and time suspected to be greater than
expected
incidence correct answers a measure of the number of new cases reported in a given amount of
time usually a year
prevalence correct answers portion of persons in a population who have a particular disease of
attribute at a specific point in time or during a specified period of time
mortality correct answers the incidence of deaths per unit of time, most often a year, in a
population
morbidity correct answers the term used to mean illness or disease
Hippocrates correct answers -Father of Western Medicine
-Greek physician in Athens, Greece
-Founder of Hippocratic School of Medicine
-Hippocratic Oath
Dr. John Snow correct answers -physician
-father of modern epidemiology
transition of epidemiology to 20th century correct answers the 20th century brought a refocus of
causes of mortality from acute and contagious to chronic and lifestyle related morbidity
what caused the transition of epidemiology correct answers -antibiotics
-birth control
-prenatal and neonatal care
-improved nutrition - especially newborn nutrition
-sanitation
-an improved standard of living
disease frequency correct answers -count number of people with disease and relate to the
population at risk (PAR)
-PAR (denominator) may be total population or exposed population, or one gender or age group
often comes from census
steps to a disease intervention correct answers -define diseases/verify the diagnosis
-establish the existence of an outbreak
-describe and orient the data -develop hypotheses
-evaluate hypotheses
, -refine hypotheses and carry out additional studies
-implement control and prevention measures
-communicate findings
kinds of epidemiological studies correct answers -goal is to determine an association between an
exposure and a disease or other health outcome
intervention study correct answers -closest thing to an experiment
-watch them over time and compare outcomes
-start with two groups: dependent and independent
-experimenter chooses who is in which group
-two groups should be as similar as possible so that intervention is the only difference
-randomized, double-blind, placebo control is the ideal
-pharmaceutical companies conduct many clinical trials for new drugs
cohort study correct answers a study of a group of people, or cohort, followed over time to see
how some disease or diseases develop
case-control study correct answers an epidemiological study that compares individuals affected
by a disease with a comparable group of persons who do not have the disease to seek possible
causes or associations
odds ratio vs. relative risk correct answers -relative risk: ratio of the probability of outcomes in
an exposed group to the probability of the outcomes in the non-exposed group
-odds ratio: odds than an outcome will occur given a particular expose, compared with the odds
of the outcome given in the absence of expose
problems with studying humans: intervention study correct answers subjects may not follow
prescribed behavior throughout study period
problems with studying humans: cohort study correct answers sometimes hard to isolate which
of many factors are responsible for health differences
problems with studying humans: case-control study: correct answers control group may not be
truly comparable; also errors in reporting or recall
sources of error correct answers
factors that lend to validity to results correct answers -strong association
-dose-response relationship
-known biological explanation
-large study population
-consistent results from several studies