Introduction to Epidemiology and Public Health - glossary
HNE-24806
Glossary
Absolute risk reduction (ARR) = attributable risk (AR) = risk difference
Analytical epidemiology: study of causes of a disease; exposure-disease associations
Antagonism: combination of exposures “silences” the separate effects
Attack rate: amount of people who did something before they got sick
Attributable fraction (AF): Tells the proportion of disease in those exposed that can be attributed to the exposure
Attributable risk: measures the actual amount of disease that can be attributed to a particular exposure
Caplan’s prevention model: primary, secondary and tertiary prevention
Case control study: retrospective: back in time
→ define population → see if they are diseased or not → see if people were exposed or not → find associations
Case-fatality ratio (CFR): proportion of people with a given disease or condition who die from it in a given period
Cluster: aggregation of relatively uncommon diseases in space and/or in time in amounts that are believed or
perceived to be greater than could be expected by chance
Cohort study: prospective: forward in time: longitudinal
→ define population → see if people are exposed or not → see if they get diseased or not → find associations between
exposure and disease
Collective prevention: state responsibility and a government task in terms of policy, organisation and funding
Community trials: preventive trials in which the intervention is implemented at the community level and are generally
conducted when it would be impossible to offer the intervention at the individual level
Comparative mortality figure (CMF): compares age-adjusted mortality rates of two countries
→ derived from direct standardisation
Component cause: factor that contributes to the disease, but cannot cause it on its own
Confidence interval: information about the accuracy of your mean/difference/median/estimator
Confounding: biased exposure or outcome relation resulting from lack of comparability exposed and unexposed group
Consort statement: rules to adhere to if you want to publish your trial; e.g. it’s obligatory to include a flow chart
Continuous outcome: follow level of the outcome in time, e.g. change in blood pressure during treatment
Cross-sectional study: gather data on exposure and disease simultaneously and see if there are associations
→ all variables are measured at the same moment in time
Crude rates: describe over all incidence or death rate in a population without taking any other features of the
population into account
Cumulative incidence (CI): incidence proportion; measures amount of people who develop the disease during a
1-8
, specified period
= incidence proportion
≈ distance travelled by a car during a specified interval of time 60 km in one hour
Descriptive epidemiology: amount/frequency of disease or other conditions in a population
Per person, place and time
Dichotomous outcome: occurrent in time of a disease or condition, e.g. hip fracture yes/no
Differential: association biased
Direct standardisation calculate the overall rate that you would see in a ‘standard’ population if it had the same age-
specific rates of disease as your study population
Disability-adjusted life years (DALY): measure of the burden of a disease or risk factor on a population. Sum of years
lost due to death before life expectancy + years lost due to disability
→ about disease; smaller = better
Disability-free life expectancy: number of years of life an individual of a given age is expected to live free of disability,
based on current morbidity and mortality rates
DISH:
Determinants of diet and lifestyle epidemiology in public health
Intake of food and nutrients “
Status and function of the body epidemiology in academic setting
Health and disease risk “
Double-blind: both participant and investigators don’t know who’s exposed
Ecological fallacy: ascribing characteristics to members of a group that they might not possess as individuals
e.g.: by studying the population, you are not sure if all stomach cancer patients are infected by H. pylori
Endemic: constant presence of a disease or infectious agent within a given geographic area or population group
Epidemiology: study upon people; measuring health, identifying the cause of ill-health and intervening to improve
health
Etiology: study of causes/origins of disease
Expected years of life lost (EYLL): number of years expected life lost due to a death at a given age; equal to the life
expectancy at that age
External validity: does the same thing happen in other settings/people/labs?
Good clinical practice (GCP): an international and scientific quality standard for designing, conducting, recording and
reporting trials in human subjects
Gordon’s prevention model: universal, selective, indicated and care-related prevention
Health adjusted life expectancy (HALE): taking into account the quality of life
→ calculated by using a life table
High risk strategy: e.g. try to move high risk individuals to the ‘normal BMI’ category (large shift)
Incidence proportion (IP): measures amount of people who develop the disease during a specified period
= cumulative incidence
Incidence rate (IR): rate at which new cases of a disease have occurred
≈ average speed of a car at a particular point in time 60 km/hour
2-8
HNE-24806
Glossary
Absolute risk reduction (ARR) = attributable risk (AR) = risk difference
Analytical epidemiology: study of causes of a disease; exposure-disease associations
Antagonism: combination of exposures “silences” the separate effects
Attack rate: amount of people who did something before they got sick
Attributable fraction (AF): Tells the proportion of disease in those exposed that can be attributed to the exposure
Attributable risk: measures the actual amount of disease that can be attributed to a particular exposure
Caplan’s prevention model: primary, secondary and tertiary prevention
Case control study: retrospective: back in time
→ define population → see if they are diseased or not → see if people were exposed or not → find associations
Case-fatality ratio (CFR): proportion of people with a given disease or condition who die from it in a given period
Cluster: aggregation of relatively uncommon diseases in space and/or in time in amounts that are believed or
perceived to be greater than could be expected by chance
Cohort study: prospective: forward in time: longitudinal
→ define population → see if people are exposed or not → see if they get diseased or not → find associations between
exposure and disease
Collective prevention: state responsibility and a government task in terms of policy, organisation and funding
Community trials: preventive trials in which the intervention is implemented at the community level and are generally
conducted when it would be impossible to offer the intervention at the individual level
Comparative mortality figure (CMF): compares age-adjusted mortality rates of two countries
→ derived from direct standardisation
Component cause: factor that contributes to the disease, but cannot cause it on its own
Confidence interval: information about the accuracy of your mean/difference/median/estimator
Confounding: biased exposure or outcome relation resulting from lack of comparability exposed and unexposed group
Consort statement: rules to adhere to if you want to publish your trial; e.g. it’s obligatory to include a flow chart
Continuous outcome: follow level of the outcome in time, e.g. change in blood pressure during treatment
Cross-sectional study: gather data on exposure and disease simultaneously and see if there are associations
→ all variables are measured at the same moment in time
Crude rates: describe over all incidence or death rate in a population without taking any other features of the
population into account
Cumulative incidence (CI): incidence proportion; measures amount of people who develop the disease during a
1-8
, specified period
= incidence proportion
≈ distance travelled by a car during a specified interval of time 60 km in one hour
Descriptive epidemiology: amount/frequency of disease or other conditions in a population
Per person, place and time
Dichotomous outcome: occurrent in time of a disease or condition, e.g. hip fracture yes/no
Differential: association biased
Direct standardisation calculate the overall rate that you would see in a ‘standard’ population if it had the same age-
specific rates of disease as your study population
Disability-adjusted life years (DALY): measure of the burden of a disease or risk factor on a population. Sum of years
lost due to death before life expectancy + years lost due to disability
→ about disease; smaller = better
Disability-free life expectancy: number of years of life an individual of a given age is expected to live free of disability,
based on current morbidity and mortality rates
DISH:
Determinants of diet and lifestyle epidemiology in public health
Intake of food and nutrients “
Status and function of the body epidemiology in academic setting
Health and disease risk “
Double-blind: both participant and investigators don’t know who’s exposed
Ecological fallacy: ascribing characteristics to members of a group that they might not possess as individuals
e.g.: by studying the population, you are not sure if all stomach cancer patients are infected by H. pylori
Endemic: constant presence of a disease or infectious agent within a given geographic area or population group
Epidemiology: study upon people; measuring health, identifying the cause of ill-health and intervening to improve
health
Etiology: study of causes/origins of disease
Expected years of life lost (EYLL): number of years expected life lost due to a death at a given age; equal to the life
expectancy at that age
External validity: does the same thing happen in other settings/people/labs?
Good clinical practice (GCP): an international and scientific quality standard for designing, conducting, recording and
reporting trials in human subjects
Gordon’s prevention model: universal, selective, indicated and care-related prevention
Health adjusted life expectancy (HALE): taking into account the quality of life
→ calculated by using a life table
High risk strategy: e.g. try to move high risk individuals to the ‘normal BMI’ category (large shift)
Incidence proportion (IP): measures amount of people who develop the disease during a specified period
= cumulative incidence
Incidence rate (IR): rate at which new cases of a disease have occurred
≈ average speed of a car at a particular point in time 60 km/hour
2-8
