SPHHS 150 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2025-2026
PERIE - Answers problem, etiology, recommendations, implementation, evaluation
problem - Answers defining the problem, understand it's morbidity (illness) and death from
illness (mortality) what is the course and distribution of the disease?
etiology - Answers understanding the causes of the problem
for something to be a cause: - Answers precedes the effect, altering the cause alters the effect
at the population level
evidence based - Answers effectiveness is supported by credible research findings
epidemiology - Answers how health and disease are distributed and affect a population. work to
prevent and control disease by identifying causes, tracking spread, and developing solutions.
incidence - Answers number of new cases of a disease that develop within a population over a
given period of time
prevalence - Answers proportion of individuals in a population who have a disease at a
particular point in time, including both new and existing cases
descriptive epidemiology - Answers describe the distribution of a disease within a population by
looking at patterns across time, place, and person.
analytic epidemiology - Answers seeks to identify the causes and risk factors of a disease by
analyzing relationships between exposures and health outcomes.
exposure - Answers factor that influences the occurrence of the health condition
(independent variable-> predictor)
outcome - Answers health condition that is being observed
(dependent variable-> observed)
cohort study - Answers studying groups (cohorts) over long periods of time to see how certain
exposures affect outcomes of interest
smoking --> lung cancer in 10 years + nonsmoking --> no lung cancer in 10 years
cohort pros and cons - Answers pros: good for rare exposures, allows calculation of incidence
(risk)
cons: time consuming, costly to follow up, can introduce bias
case-control study - Answers individuals with a particular disease and individuals without the
, disease, asks about their past
case-control pros and cons - Answers pros: quick and inexpensive, efficient, requires fewer
participants
cons: cannot establish temporality, can't calculate incidence directly, can't remember past, bias
cross-sectional study - Answers collects data at a single point in time to assess the relationship
between exposures and outcomes.
determines prevalence of a condition in a population (diabetes)
cross-sectional pros and cons - Answers pros: quick and cost effective, useful for hypothesis
generation
cons: can't establish temporality, can be affected by survival bias
randomized control trials - Answers participants are randomly assigned to different groups to
test the effectiveness of a treatment or intervention.
tests the efficacy of new drugs or therapies
RCT pros and cons - Answers pros: minimizes bias, allows for direct comparison
cons: expensive, time-intensive
infectious diseases - Answers Infectious diseases are illnesses caused by harmful organisms
(pathogens) that enter your body from the outside. They are extremely common worldwide, but
some are more common than others such as the influenza virus (the flu).
zoonotic - Answers spread from animals to humans
vector-borne - Answers ticks
transmission - Answers spread of bacteria, viruses, airborne, or vehicle borne (list goes on)
agent - Answers disease-causing pathogen
susceptible host - Answers infected by agent
immunity - Answers immune system's way of protecting the body against an infectious disease
active immunity - Answers body's own immune system creating antibodies to fight things off
natural: getting mono and then becoming immune to it forever
artificial: vaccinations
passive immunity - Answers receiving antibodies from external source
PERIE - Answers problem, etiology, recommendations, implementation, evaluation
problem - Answers defining the problem, understand it's morbidity (illness) and death from
illness (mortality) what is the course and distribution of the disease?
etiology - Answers understanding the causes of the problem
for something to be a cause: - Answers precedes the effect, altering the cause alters the effect
at the population level
evidence based - Answers effectiveness is supported by credible research findings
epidemiology - Answers how health and disease are distributed and affect a population. work to
prevent and control disease by identifying causes, tracking spread, and developing solutions.
incidence - Answers number of new cases of a disease that develop within a population over a
given period of time
prevalence - Answers proportion of individuals in a population who have a disease at a
particular point in time, including both new and existing cases
descriptive epidemiology - Answers describe the distribution of a disease within a population by
looking at patterns across time, place, and person.
analytic epidemiology - Answers seeks to identify the causes and risk factors of a disease by
analyzing relationships between exposures and health outcomes.
exposure - Answers factor that influences the occurrence of the health condition
(independent variable-> predictor)
outcome - Answers health condition that is being observed
(dependent variable-> observed)
cohort study - Answers studying groups (cohorts) over long periods of time to see how certain
exposures affect outcomes of interest
smoking --> lung cancer in 10 years + nonsmoking --> no lung cancer in 10 years
cohort pros and cons - Answers pros: good for rare exposures, allows calculation of incidence
(risk)
cons: time consuming, costly to follow up, can introduce bias
case-control study - Answers individuals with a particular disease and individuals without the
, disease, asks about their past
case-control pros and cons - Answers pros: quick and inexpensive, efficient, requires fewer
participants
cons: cannot establish temporality, can't calculate incidence directly, can't remember past, bias
cross-sectional study - Answers collects data at a single point in time to assess the relationship
between exposures and outcomes.
determines prevalence of a condition in a population (diabetes)
cross-sectional pros and cons - Answers pros: quick and cost effective, useful for hypothesis
generation
cons: can't establish temporality, can be affected by survival bias
randomized control trials - Answers participants are randomly assigned to different groups to
test the effectiveness of a treatment or intervention.
tests the efficacy of new drugs or therapies
RCT pros and cons - Answers pros: minimizes bias, allows for direct comparison
cons: expensive, time-intensive
infectious diseases - Answers Infectious diseases are illnesses caused by harmful organisms
(pathogens) that enter your body from the outside. They are extremely common worldwide, but
some are more common than others such as the influenza virus (the flu).
zoonotic - Answers spread from animals to humans
vector-borne - Answers ticks
transmission - Answers spread of bacteria, viruses, airborne, or vehicle borne (list goes on)
agent - Answers disease-causing pathogen
susceptible host - Answers infected by agent
immunity - Answers immune system's way of protecting the body against an infectious disease
active immunity - Answers body's own immune system creating antibodies to fight things off
natural: getting mono and then becoming immune to it forever
artificial: vaccinations
passive immunity - Answers receiving antibodies from external source
