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DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY for Public Health Professionals Part 4

This resource explores the field of descriptive epidemiology, covering topics such as magnitude of the problem, person, place, and time considerations, and various study designs. It also delves into hypothesis formulation and the bridge to analytic epidemiology.

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DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY for Public Health Professionals Part 4

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  1. DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGYfor Public Health Professionals Part 4 Ian R.H. Rockett, PhD, MPH Department of Community Medicine West Virginia University School of Medicine Prepared under the auspices of the Southeast Public Health Training Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2005. irockett@hsc.wvu.edu

  2. From MEASUREMENT to DESCRIPTION

  3. Descriptive Epidemiology Magnitude of the Problem -how big? Person, Place, and Time - who, where, and when?

  4. Magnitude of the Problem

  5. Injury Deaths Worldwide by Leading Causes and Intent, 1990

  6. Person Place andTime

  7. PERSON • Demographic characteristics e.g. age, sex, race, marital status, number of children • Socioeconomic characteristics e.g. social class, employment status, occupation • Life style/behavior e.g. drinking alcohol/smoking marijuana and driving

  8. United States Suicide Rates by Age, Sex, and Racial Group, 1999-2001 Data accessed through CDC Wonder:http://wonder.cdc.gov/mortICD10J.html

  9. PLACE Are the disease or injury cases: • geographically confined or pervasive? • clustering around known potential pathogens, toxins, or other hazards?

  10. TIME • Are disease (injury) rates or case numbers variable or constant? • Do rates or case numbers vary seasonally? • Is the disease attributable to a point source of infection or propagated transmission?

  11. Source: McAuley, J. et al. A Trichinosis Outbreak Among Southeast Asian Refugees (1992). American Journal of Epidemiology 135(12):1404-1410. Reproduced in Rockett, I.R.H. Population and Health: An introduction toEpidemiology(1999). Population Bulletin 54(4):23.

  12. Descriptive Study Designs

  13. Correlational (Ecological) Study– uses data from entire populations to compare disease/injury frequencies in relation to putatively harmful (or beneficial) exposures during the same period of time or at different points in time (typically use secondary published data like vital statistics, censuses and national health surveys)

  14. Source: Len Evans. Traffic Crashes. American Scientist 90 (3); 2002: 246. http://www.dushkin.com/text-data/articles/34749/body.pdf

  15. Case Report - most basic type of descriptive study of individuals, comprising a careful detailed report by one or more clinicians that profiles a single patient’s case

  16. Case Series– describe characteristics of a number of patients with a given disease

  17. Cross-Sectional Studies– the status of an individual with respect to the presence or absence of both exposure and disease/injury of interest is assessed at one point in time (if the timing of each cannot be differentiated, this too qualifies a study as cross-sectional)

  18. HYPOTHESIS FORMULATIONTheBridge to Analytic Epidemiology

  19. Method of Difference Examines differences among groups for clues as to why the groups’ disease rates or other health problems vary

  20. Source: Ian R.H. Rockett. Population and Health: An Introduction to Epidemiology. Second edition. Population Bulletin 54(4); 1999: 17.

  21. Method of Agreement Looks for commonality in groups that manifest the same health problem

  22. Method of Concomitant Variation Traces how exposure to a hazard varies in relation to disease or other health problems

  23. Problem of Chronic Disease Latency

  24. Source: Doll, R. Etiology of Lung Cancer (1955). Advances in Cancer Research 3;1955:1-50. Reproduced in I.R.H. Rockett. Population and Health: An introduction to Epidemiology, Second edition. Population Bulletin,54(4);1999: 25.

  25. Early Intervention in the Natural History of Disease HEALTH OUTCOMES Cure Control Disability Death Good Health Disease Onset Care Seeking Symptoms Diagnosis Therapy Early detection through Screening

  26. Method of Analogy Involves applying a model that characterizes one kind of disease or injury to another kind

  27. Method of Detection of Conflicting Observations

  28. Pellagra, commonly regarded as a communicable disease, produced skin eruptions and digestive and nervous disorders

  29. Joseph Goldberger, 1874-1929

  30. Laboratory Observations

  31. Even though lacking research experience, Dr. Barry Marshall and Dr. Robin Warren were able to link peptic ulcers to the bacterium Helicobacter Pylori Source: University of Western Australia. UniView 22(1);2003:4.

  32. ANALYTIC EPIDEMIOLOGY • Addressing the why question

  33. From Epidemiology to Population Health

  34. Years of Healthy Life vs. Years of Life, United States, 1990 Years Age (in years)

  35. To Access Some Online Epidemiology Texts Visit http://www.epidemiolog.net/evolving/ TableOfContents.htm http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=Population_Bulletin1&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=9854 http://bmj.com/epidem/epid.html

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