INTL 340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Birth Weight, Preterm Birth, Perinatal Mortality
2 Jul 2018
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Week 4 Class 2
Week 4- Measurement
● epidemiology: basic concepts
○ population-based and composite measures
○ sections: exercise on global burden of disease
Epidemiology, historical roots
● John snow and the Broad Street pump
● Miasma theory: exposure to unsanitary environments and “bad air”, noxious vapor,
responsible for disease spread
● 1854: John Snow investigates cholera outbreak in London neighborhood, causes cluster
around the pump
● Methods of investigation: case identification, mapping, identification of source/cause
● Intervention: removal of the pump; provision of clean water
Epidemiology, approach
● determining associations between some characteristic of the environment (“exposure” or
“risk factor”) and some characteristic of the population (disease/illness)
● Aim: determine risk or ecology of disease, use research to inform policy to address disease
in populations
● risk factor approach: which factors increase risk on contracting disease?
● outcome statistics: often expressed as odds ratio (ex: what are the increased probabilities of
contracting disease given X risk factor?)
● assess & describe health status of populations = epidemiology
Epidemiology
● Epi research explores associations between risk factors (behavioral, environmental, social)
and disease; does not provide causal explanation
● to get closer to causality: 1) engage specific study designs 2) analyze data using statistical
process to “control for” possible alternative explanations
● A science of association, at the population level
○ not proving things, using tools to convince people about our associations
● dose response effect is something epidemiologists look for
○ the more of a drug you give someone, the response/outcomes you see
○ same kind of concept for epi, dose response effect between someones social
position and early death
■ dose of lower social status rather than a drug (drug: potential social risk
factor)
■ correlation is usually convincing evidence
Epidemiology, measures
● Epi data describe disease burden in population
●PREVALENCE: # of existing cases of a disease in a population at a point in time
●INCIDENCE: # of new cases in a period of time
●Morbidity: rates of disease
●Mortality: rates of death
●RATES: standardized per population size (usually expressed as per 1,000)
○ CMR is usually 1000 or something pay attention to what the standard # is
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Sections: exercise on global burden of disease. John snow and the broad street pump. Miasma theory: exposure to unsanitary environments and bad air , noxious vapor, responsible for disease spread. 1854: john snow investigates cholera outbreak in london neighborhood, causes cluster around the pump. Methods of investigation: case identification, mapping, identification of source/cause. Intervention: removal of the pump; provision of clean water. Determining associations between some characteristic of the environment ( exposure or. Risk factor ) and some characteristic of the population (disease/illness) Aim: determine risk or ecology of disease, use research to inform policy to address disease in populations. Outcome statistics: often expressed as odds ratio (ex: what are the increased probabilities of contracting disease given x risk factor?) Assess & describe health status of populations = epidemiology. Epi research explores associations between risk factors (behavioral, environmental, social) and disease; does not provide causal explanation.
