PUBH-340 Study Guide - Summer 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Mortality Rate, Disease, Public Health
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PUBH-340
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Epidemiology - study of distribution and determinants of health and disease in human
populations to enable health services to be planned rationally
● Why does a disease develop in some populations and not others?
- Genetic factors
- Social norms
Objectives of Epidemiology:
1. Identify the cause of a disease
2. Determine the extent of the disease found in the community
- What does this mean? The burden of disease on the community in order to know
what types of disease to prioritize
- Know how big of issue the disease is
- Example: hurricane Harvey, what are the implications of this?
3. Study the natural history and progression of disease
- Why is this important? Gives us info to see how the disease progresses, helps us
to improve diseases that are already out there.
4. Evaluate both existing and newly developed preventive and therapeutic measures and
modes of health care delivery
5. Provide the foundation for developing public policy relating to environmental problems,
genetic issues, and other considerations regarding disease prevention and health promotion
- Why is policy important? Because it can force action to be taken.
Changing Patterns of Community Health Problems:
- Provide a clue to changes that take place over time in the health problems presenting in
the community
- Intervene to reduce morbidity and/or mortality
- Understand what are the current threats to health
Epidemiology and Prevention
- Identify subgroups in the population who are at risk
- Why identify high risk groups? It is easier to help us not waste our resources and
know who and what to focus on.
Levels of Prevention
Primary - denotes an action taken to prevent the development of a disease in a person who is
well and does not (yet) have the disease in question don’t want to get sick
Examples: vaccinations, mosquito nets, hand wash, brushing teeth, washing fruits and
vegetables, wear a seatbelt (controversial), fluorination of water, condoms
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Secondary - identify people in whom disease process has already begun but who have not yet
developed clinical signs and symptoms of the illness already have it, preventing from getting
worse
Examples: getting tested for STD’s, cancer screenings (all screenings), weight-loss
programs
Tertiary - preventing complications in those who already have developed signs and symptoms
of an illness and have been diagnosed-that is, people who are in clinical phase of their illness
have disease, prevent to reduce effects to make sure it doesn’t get worse
Examples: rehabilitation, chemotherapy, any program that addresses chronic illnesses,
Epidemiological Approach:
1. How do epidemiologists identify causes of disease?
- Determine whether an association exists between exposure to a factor (env.
agent) or a characteristic of a person (they see if there is an association between
the environment with a person)
2. Derive appropriate inferences about a possible causal relationship from the patterns of
the associations that have been found.
How to get from observation to prevention?
- Epidemiology is an observational science that capitalizes upon naturally occurring
situations in order to study the occurrence of disease
- John Snow: contaminated water associated with cholera
- Ignaz Semmelweis: (childbed fever) hand hygiene intervention in hospitals
- Edward Jenner: smallpox vaccinations
Dynamics of Disease Transmission (How can a disease be transmitted?)
- You need a host (thing or person), an agent (pathogen itself, a bacteria, virus, fungi),
and environment (warm or wet environments can bring a disease, or earthquakes or
natural disasters can bring diseases, temperature, food, radiation, air pollution, noise)
Modes of Transmission (eyes, skin, anus, skin, respiratory tract)
● Direct
○ Person-to-person contact
● Indirect
○ Common vehicle such as contaminated air or water supply
■ Single exposures - the metro
■ Multiple exposures -
■ Continuous exposures - water sources are contaminated
○ Vector
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Epidemiology - study of distribution and determinants of health and disease in human populations to enable health services to be planned rationally. Determine the extent of the disease found in the community. The burden of disease on the community in order to know what types of disease to prioritize. Know how big of issue the disease is. Study the natural history and progression of disease. Gives us info to see how the disease progresses, helps us to improve diseases that are already out there. Evaluate both existing and newly developed preventive and therapeutic measures and modes of health care delivery. Provide the foundation for developing public policy relating to environmental problems, genetic issues, and other considerations regarding disease prevention and health promotion. Because it can force action to be taken. Provide a clue to changes that take place over time in the health problems presenting in the community. Understand what are the current threats to health.
