HLTB15H3 Chapter : HLTA10 Pgs 72-95
Document Summary
Epidemiology, the distribution of, specific causes (aetiology) of, and risk factors for diseases in pop n. > the study of distribution, determinants, and frequency of disease in human pop n. Mainstream epidemiology examines data on levels of disease and risk factors for disease while taking environmental factors into account. Materialist epidemiology is concerned w/ the role of underlying societal and structural factors. Descriptive studies are concerned w/ describing the general distribution of diseases in space and time (case series students, cross-sectional surveys) Analytic studies are concerned w/ the cause and prevention of disease and are based on comparisons of pop n groups in relation to their disease status or exposure to disease (case control, cohort studies) Indirect causation, an intervening variable that s an intermediate step in the causal pathway btwn the independent and dependent variables (fatty food> narrowed arteries> coronary <3 disease)