HADM 379 - INTRODUCTION TO EPIDEMIOLOGY COMPLETE STUDY & EXAM NOTES

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HADM 379 - INTRODUCTION TO EPIDEMIOLOGY COMPLETE STUDY & EXAM NOTES HADM 379 - INTRODUCTION TO EPIDEMIOLOGY COMPLETE STUDY & EXAM NOTES HADM 379 - INTRODUCTION TO EPIDEMIOLOGY COMPLETE STUDY & E... XAM NOTES HADM 379 - INTRODUCTION TO EPIDEMIOLOGY COMPLETE STUDY & EXAM NOTES Unit 1: Introduction to Epidemiology Epidemiology: the study of the distribution and determinants of healthrelated states or events in specified populations and applying it to the prevention and control of health problems • Is a fundamental science of public health: determination of the etiology (cause and risk factors) and burden of disease? • Improves population health by providing recommendations for implementing change to health policy and evaluating existing health measures. Note: there is often a significant delay between identifying epidemiologic evidence and applying it to health policy • Is essential to identifying and mapping emerging diseases • Aims to reduce health disparities by promoting equity and accessibility Term Explanation Study Includessurveillance, observation, hypothesistesting, analytic research and experiments Distribution Analysis of times, persons, places, and classes of persons affected Determinants Factors which influence health: biological, chemical, physical, social, cultural, environmental, economic, genomic and behavioral Health-related states and events Refers to diseases, causes of death, lifestyle behaviors such as smoking, positive health states, reactionsto preventative regimes, provision and use of health services. Specified Populations Persons with identifiable characteristics,such as occupational groups Application to Prevention and Control Aims of public health: to promote, protect and restore health Unit 2: Measuring the Occurrence of Disease Occurrence of disease and its impact can be expressed in several different ways (incidence and prevalence) and can be further classified as measures of morbidity (illness), or mortality (death). Measures of disease morbidity and mortality are obtained via surveillance: the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data essential to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice closely integrated with the timely dissemination of data to those who need to know. Incidence: the number of new cases of a disease occurring during a specific period of time in a population at risk for developing that disease. • Is a measure of events and a measure of risk of becoming ill, and is the main measure of an acute disease. • A population at risk must be a defined group, such as an age group, males or females, or a group exposed to a certain risk factor. • Usually expressed as incidence per 1000 people • Incidence rate is calculated as follows when all people at risk are observed throughout a defined time period (this is also known as cumulative incidence) • When all people are not observed for the full time period (such as instances where individuals are lost to follow-up, or die), the denominator for calculating incidence is expressed in person-time: the sum of unit of time that each individual was at risk and was observed 2 (usually expressed as person-years or person-months). When this is the case, incidence is calculated as follows (also known as incidence density) Determining person-yearsfor calculation of incidence: Prevalence: the number of affected persons present in the population at a specific time. It is a snapshot of a population at a point in time determining who has a disease and who does no [Show More]

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