Epidemiology is the study
(scientific, systematic, data-driven) of the distribution (frequency, pattern) and determinants (causes, risk factors) of health-related states and events (not just diseases)
in specified populations (patient is community, individuals viewed collectively), and the application of (since …
What are the types of epidemiological studies?
- Experimental.
- Observational cohort.
- Observational case-control.
- Observational cross-sectional.
- Not an analytical or epidemiologic study.
What is the purpose of epidemiological studies?
The purpose of epidemiology is
to understand what risk factors are associated with a specific disease, and how disease can be prevented in groups of individuals
; due to the observational nature of epidemiology, it cannot provide answers to what caused a disease to a specific individual.
What are the 3 major types of epidemiologic studies?
EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY DESIGNS
Three major types of epidemiologic studies are
cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies
(study designs are discussed in more detail in IOM, 2000). A cohort, or longitudinal, study follows a defined group over time.
What are the main features of an epidemiological study?
It extracts six types of epidemiological characteristic:
design of the study, population that has been studied, exposure, outcome, covariates and effect size
.
What are the 5 main objectives of epidemiology?
In the mid-1980s, five major tasks of epidemiology in public health practice were identified:
public health surveillance, field investigation, analytic studies, evaluation, and linkages
.
What are the 5 W’s of epidemiology?
The difference is that epidemiologists tend to use synonyms for the 5 W’s:
diagnosis or health event (what), person (who), place (where), time (when), and causes, risk factors, and modes of transmission (why/how)
.
What are the 4 types of epidemiological data?
The tests of analytical epidemiology are carried out through four major types of research study designs:
cross-sectional studies, case-control studies, cohort studies, and controlled clinical trials
. Cross-sectional studies are used to explore associations of disease with variables of interest.
What are the two main types of analytic studies?
Analytic studies fall into two categories:
experimental and observational
. Experimental studies, which include clinical and community trials, may be used to study the effects of new drugs or vaccines.
Which is the most powerful epidemiological study?
Randomized, controlled clinical trials
are the most powerful designs possible in medical research, but they are often expensive and time-consuming. Well-designed observational studies can provide useful insights on disease causation, even though they do not constitute proof of causes.
Is an epidemiologist a doctor?
Are epidemiologists considered medical doctors? No. While epidemiologists study and investigate the causes and sources of diseases in much the same way as medical doctors,
they’re not considered actual physicians
.
What is the strongest study design?
A well
-designed randomized controlled trial
, where feasible, is generally the strongest study design for evaluating an intervention’s effectiveness.
What is the best study design?
| Clinical question Suggested best study design | Clinical Exam prospective, blind comparison to gold standard | Diagnosis prospective, blind comparison to a gold standard | Therapy RCT > cohort > case control > case series | Prevention RCT > cohort study > case control > case series |
|---|
What are the four uses of epidemiology?
For
community diagnosis of the presence, nature and distribution of health and disease among the population
, and the dimensions of these in incidence, prevalence, and mortality; taking into account that society is changing and health problems are changing. To study the workings of health services.
What are the branches of epidemiology?
Major areas of epidemiological study include
disease causation, transmission, outbreak investigation, disease surveillance, environmental epidemiology, forensic epidemiology, occupational epidemiology, screening
, biomonitoring, and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials.
How do you conduct an epidemiological study?
- Prepare for field work.
- Establish the existence of an outbreak.
- Verify the diagnosis.
- Construct a working case definition.
- Find cases systematically and record information.
- Perform descriptive epidemiology.
- Develop hypotheses.
- Evaluate hypotheses epidemiologically.
