They assess whether groups with different rates of disease differ in their demographic characteristics, genetic or immunologic make-up, behaviors, environmental exposures, or other so-called potential risk factors. To search for these determinants, epidemiologists use analytic epidemiology or epidemiologic studies to provide the “Why” and “How” of such events. Epidemiologists assume that illness does not occur randomly in a population, but happens only when the right accumulation of risk factors or determinants exists in an individual. Determinantsĭeterminant: any factor, whether event, characteristic, or other definable entity, that brings about a change in a health condition or other defined characteristic.Įpidemiology is also used to search for determinants, which are the causes and other factors that influence the occurrence of disease and other health-related events. Personal characteristics include demographic factors which may be related to risk of illness, injury, or disability such as age, sex, marital status, and socioeconomic status, as well as behaviors and environmental exposures.Ĭharacterizing health events by time, place, and person are activities of descriptive epidemiology, discussed in more detail later in this lesson. Place patterns include geographic variation, urban/rural differences, and location of work sites or schools. Time patterns may be annual, seasonal, weekly, daily, hourly, weekday versus weekend, or any other breakdown of time that may influence disease or injury occurrence. Pattern refers to the occurrence of health-related events by time, place, and person. The resulting rate allows epidemiologists to compare disease occurrence across different populations. However, epidemiology is not just a research activity but an integral component of public health, providing the foundation for directing practical and appropriate public health action based on this science and causal reasoning.( 2) DistributionĮpidemiology is concerned with the frequency and pattern of health events in a population:įrequency refers not only to the number of health events such as the number of cases of meningitis or diabetes in a population, but also to the relationship of that number to the size of the population. Second, epidemiology is a method of causal reasoning based on developing and testing hypotheses grounded in such scientific fields as biology, behavioral sciences, physics, and ergonomics to explain health-related behaviors, states, and events. First, epidemiology is a quantitative discipline that relies on a working knowledge of probability, statistics, and sound research methods. In fact, epidemiology is often described as the basic science of public health, and for good reason. However, epidemiology also draws on methods from other scientific fields, including biostatistics and informatics, with biologic, economic, social, and behavioral sciences. Basic epidemiologic methods tend to rely on careful observation and use of valid comparison groups to assess whether what was observed, such as the number of cases of disease in a particular area during a particular time period or the frequency of an exposure among persons with disease, differs from what might be expected. Epidemiology is data-driven and relies on a systematic and unbiased approach to the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. StudyĮpidemiology is a scientific discipline with sound methods of scientific inquiry at its foundation. Key terms in this definition reflect some of the important principles of epidemiology. Many definitions have been proposed, but the following definition captures the underlying principles and public health spirit of epidemiology:Įpidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems ( 1). In other words, the word epidemiology has its roots in the study of what befalls a population. The word epidemiology comes from the Greek words epi, meaning on or upon, demos, meaning people, and logos, meaning the study of. 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). The same is true in characterizing epidemiologic events, whether it be an outbreak of norovirus among cruise ship passengers or the use of mammograms to detect early breast cancer. The 5 W’s are the essential components of a news story because if any of the five are missing, the story is incomplete. Students of journalism are taught that a good news story, whether it be about a bank robbery, dramatic rescue, or presidential candidate’s speech, must include the 5 W’s: what, who, where, when and why (sometimes cited as why/how).
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