Epi Exam 1 2016 – Flashcards
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Attack rate
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the occurrence of foodborne illness, infectious diseases, and other acute epidemics
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Agent
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A factor—such as a microorganism, chemical substance, or form of radiation—whose presence, excessive presence, or (in deficiency diseases) relative absence is essential for the occurrence of a disease.
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Carrier
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A person or animal that harbors a specific infectious agent without discernible clinical disease, and which serves as a potential source of infection.
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Direct Transmission
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person to person
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indirect transmission
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vehicle borne, air borne, vector borne
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Epidemiologic triangle
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One of the long-standing models used to describe the etiology of infectious diseases. Agent, host, and environment.
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Environment
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The domain in which disease-causing agents may exist, survive, or originate
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Fomite
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An inanimate object that carries infectious disease agents (ex: classroom doorknob)
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Generation time
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The time interval between lodgment of an infectious agent in a host and the maximal communicability of the host
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Herd Immunity
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The resistance of an entire community to an infectious agent as a result of the immunity of a large proportion of individuals in that community to the agent
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Host
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A person or other living animal, including birds and arthropods, that affords subsistence or lodgment to an infectious agent under natural conditions.
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Passive Immunity
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Immunity that the host has developed as a result of natural infection with a microbial agent (measured in months or days)
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Active Immunity
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Immunity that the host has developed as a result of natural infection with a microbial agent (measured in years)
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Incubation period
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Time interval between invasion by an infectious agent and the appearance of the first sign or symptom of the disease
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Index case
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Used in an epidemiologic investigation of a disease outbreak to denote the first case of a disease to come to the attention of authorities
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Infectious disease (infection)
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An illness due to a specific infectious agent or its toxic products that arises through transmission of that agent or its products from an infected person, animal, or reservoir to a susceptible host, either directly or indirectly through an intermediate plant or animal host, vector, or the inanimate environment."
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Infectivity
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The capacity of an agent to enter and multiply in a susceptible host and thus produce infection or disease
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Parasitic disease
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An infection caused by a parasite, which "...is an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host."
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Portal of entry
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site where the agent enters the person (ex: skin wound)
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portal of exit
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site of which the agent leaves the person (ex: alimentary canal)
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Reservoir
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A place where infectious agents normally live and multiply
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Subclinical (inapparent infection)
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An infection that does not show obvious clinical signs or symptoms (ex: Hep A in children)
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Toxin
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usually refers to a toxic substance made by living organisms
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Virulence
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Refers to the severity of the disease produced, i.e., whether the disease has severe clinical manifestations or is fatal in a large number of cases.
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Vector
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an animate, living insect or animal that is involved with the transmission of disease agents.
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Zoonosis
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An infection or infectious agent transmissible under natural conditions from vertebrate animals to humans
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Analytic Epidemiology
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Examines causal (etiologic) hypotheses regarding the association between exposures and health conditions
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Descriptive Epidemiology
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epidemiologic studies concerned with characterizing the amount and distribution of health and disease within a population.
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Epidemic
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occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness, specific health-related behavior, or other health-related events clearly in excess of normal expectancy.
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Pandemic
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an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people.
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Population
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all the inhabitants of a given country or area considered together.
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• Epidemiologic Transition
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a shift in the patterns of morbidity and mortality from causes related primarily to infectious and communicable diseases to causes associated with chronic, degenerative diseases.
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Exposure
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contact with a disease-causing factor or to the amount of factor that impinges upon a group or individuals.
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Determinant
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any factor that brings about change in a health condition or other defined characteristic.
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Distribution
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occurrence of diseases and other health outcomes varies in populations with some subgroups of the population more frequently affected than others.
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Morbidity
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illnesses due to a specific disease or health condition.
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Mortality
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death (from various causes)
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Risk Assessment
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a methodology used to provide quantitative measurements of risk to health.
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Risk
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the probability that an event will occur.
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Risk Factor
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an exposure that is associated with disease, morbidity, mortality, or adverse health outcome.
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Histogram
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a chart used for continuous variables.
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Line graph
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used to display trends (ex: time trends)
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Pie chart
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a circle that shows the proportion of cases according to several categories
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Ratio
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the value obtained by dividing one quantity by another
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Rate
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a type of ratio where the denominator involves a measure of time
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Proportion
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a type of ratio where the numerator is apart of the denominator (may be expressed as a percentage)
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Percentage
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a proportion that has been multiplied by 100.
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Count
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refers to the # of cases of a disease or other health phenomenon being studied.
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Lifetime prevalence
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cases diagnosed any time during the person's lifetime
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Point Prevalence
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All cases of a disease, health condition, or deaths that exist at a particular point in time relative to a specific population from which the cases are derived.
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Prevalence
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The number of existing cases of a disease or health condition, or deaths in a population at some designated time
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Incidence
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Refers to the occurrence of new disease or mortality within a defined period of observation (e.g., a week, month, year, or other time period) in a specified population.
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Case fatality rate
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the number of deaths due to a disease that occur among persons who are afflicted with that disease.
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Crude rate
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A type of rate that has not been modified to take account of any of the factors such as the demographic makeup of the population that may affect the observed rate, Includes a time period during which an event occurred, Numerator consists of the frequency of a disease over a specified period of time, Denominator is a unit size of population, Aid in making comparisons but have limitations
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Death rate
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a type of crude rate that is used to project population changes.
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Adjusted Rate
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A rate of morbidity or mortality in a population in which statistical procedures have been applied to permit fair comparisons across populations by removing the effect of differences in the composition of various populations (age is a factor used)
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Criteria for data quality
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Quality is determined by the sources used to obtain the data and how completely the data cover the reference population. The quality of data affects the permissible applications of the data and the types of statistical analyses that may be performed.
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Maternal mortality rate
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Encompasses maternal deaths that result from causes associated with pregnancy.
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Infant mortality rate
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Number of infant deaths among infants aged 0-365 days during a year divided by the number of live births during the same year (expressed as rate per 1,000 live births)
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General fertility rate
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Number of live births reported in an area during a given time interval divided by number of women aged 15-44 years in the area (Expressed as rate per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years.)
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Life expectancy
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number of years that a person is expected to live, at any particular year (e.g., at birth)
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Crude birth rate
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Number of live births during a specified period such as a year per the resident population during the midpoint of the year (Affects the size of the population.)
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Syndromic surveillance
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Describes "...using health-related data that precede diagnosis and signal a sufficient probability of a case or an outbreak to warrant further public health response."
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Public health surveillance
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Refers to the systematic and continuous gathering of information about the occurrence of diseases and other health phenomena
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Fetal mortality
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Death of the fetus when it is in the uterus and before it has been delivered
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Perinatal mortality rate
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Includes both late fetal deaths and deaths among newborns.Defined as the number of late fetal deaths after 28 weeks or more gestation plus infant deaths within 7 days of birth divided by the number of live births plus the number of late fetal deaths during a year.
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Age
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specific disease rate usually show greater variation than rates define by almost any other personal attribute. (Ex. The incidence of and mortality from chronic diseases increase with age, Some infections, e.g., mumps and chickenpox occur more commonly during childhood.) The leading cause of death among adults is unintentional injuries. Maternal age is associated with rates of diabetes and related complications.
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Race
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Five major categories in Census 2000: White, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (Used to track various health outcomes)
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Sex
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Epidemiologic studies have shown sex differences in a wide scope of health phenomena including morbidity and mortality.(Ex. All causes age-specific mortality rates higher among males, Differences in cancer rates, e.g., cancer of the genital system.)
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Socioeconomic Status
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"descriptive term for a person's position in society..." Often formulated as a composite measure of the following dimensions: A person's income level, Education level, Type of occupation.
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Cross-sectional study
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A type of investigation "...that examines the relationship between diseases (or other health-related characteristics) and other variables of interest as they exist in a defined population at one particular time. (Ex: behavioral risk factor surveillance system BRFSS)
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Health disparities
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Differences in the occurrence of diseases and adverse health conditions in the population.
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Cyclic fluctuation
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increases and decreases in the frequency of a disease or other phenomenon over a period of several years or within a year. (Ex: severe weather events in the Atlantic basin, mortality from pneumonia and influenza- peaks during February).
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Point Epidemic
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May indicate the response of a group of people circumscribed in the place to a common source of infection, contamination, or other etiologic factor to which they were exposed almost simultaneously. (Ex. outbreak of Vibrio infections following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.)
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Localized clustering
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denotes the occurrence of events related to time.
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Spatial clustering
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refers to aggregation of events in a geographic region.
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Secular trend
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Refer to gradual changes in the frequency of disease over long time periods. (Ex. Yearly suicide rates of U.S females---firearm-associated suicides decreased, but those by hanging increased, Age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension (no secular trend shown).
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Temporal clustering
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Denotes the occurrence of events related to time.
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T/F: In developed countries, infectious diseases have replaced chronic health problems as the leading killers during the past century
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FALSE
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T/F: The history of epidemiology originated as early as classical antiquity
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TRUE
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T/F: A reservoir can be human beings, animals, insects, soils, and/or plants.
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TRUE
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T/F: It is possible for a single case of a disease to represent an epidemic
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TRUE
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What is one of the first steps in presenting data after they have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness
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COUNT AND TABULATE
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T/F: Birth statistics include statistics on both live births and fetal deaths
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TRUE
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T/F: Contingency tables tabulate data according to two dimensions
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TRUE
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T/F: Analytic epidemiologic studies focus on causal associations between exposures and outcomes
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TRUE
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An erroneous inference that may occur because an association observed between variables on an aggregate level does not necessarily reflect the association at an individual level is known as an
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ECOLOGIC FALLACY
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The process of passing from observations and axioms to generalizations is known as
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INTERFERENCE
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With respect to derivation of hypotheses, a situation in which all of the factors in two or more domains are the same except for a single factor is known as
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METHOD OF DIFFERENCE
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Participants are classified according to their exposure to a factor of interest and then are observed over time to document the incidence of disease in what type of study
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PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY
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T/F: Examples of categorical variables are height and weight
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FALSE
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T/F: Molecular epidemiology uses molecular markers in addition to genes to establish exposure-disease relationships
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TRUE
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T/F: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the United States
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TRUE
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A host factor that enhances some step in the progression between exposure and disease such that the downstream step is more likely to occur is known as a
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GENETIC MARKER OF SUSCEPTIBILITY
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T/F: Global warming is a controversial topic that refers to the gradual decrease in the earth's temperature over time
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FALSE
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460 B.C-370 B.C
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Hippocrates (classical antiquity)
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1346- 1352
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The Plague (Black Death)
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1493-1541
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Paracelsus (field of toxicology)
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1620-1674
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John Graunt (Columbus of statistics)
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1633-1714
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Ramazzini (field of occupational medicine)
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1714-1788
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Sir Percival Pott (environmental cause of cancer)
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1749-1823
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Edward Jenner (smallpox vaccine)
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1813-1858
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John Snow (Cholera outbreak)
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1807-1883
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William Farr (compiler of abstracts)
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1843-1910
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Robert Koch (association between microorganisms and a disease)
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1881-1955
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Alexander Fleming (Penicillin)
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1918-1919
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Pandemic Influenza (Spanish Flu)
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1932-1972
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Syphilis study (Tuskegee)
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Waterpipe Smoking (Grekin & Anya)
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- 400 yrs old - a.k.a? Hookah, shisha, nargila, argileh, hubble bubble - who? popular among university students and young adults in the Middle East, Europe, and North America - why? can be bought online, inexpensive, to be social, -increased hookah bars, diff flavors, it is mistakenly believed to be healthier than cigarettes - associated with esophageal cancer, chromosomal aberrations decreased pulmonary and CV funcs, low birth weight, infertility, dental problems, and infectious diseases - lifetime prevalence rates are as high as 70% - The study found that 1 in 5 college students in the U.S and Europe reported past year waterpipe smoking - 30% of college students reported cigarette smoking - 1 in 4 middle eastern students reported WP smoking in the past month. - males are more likely to engage in waterpipe smoking - African Americans are least likely to try WP smoking.
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Three significant components of the "Belmont Report"
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1) Respect for persons 2) Beneficence 3) Justice
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Examples of zoonotic diseases:
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Rabies (virus) Anthrax (bacteria) Avian influenza (virus) Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (virus) Toxoplasmosis (parasitic) Tularemia (rabbit fever)
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What are the portals of exit?
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1) Respiratory passages 2) Alimentary canal 3) Genitourinary system 4) Skin lesions
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What are the components of the external environment.
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1) Physical 2) Climatologic 3) Biologic 4) Social 5) Economic
