Intro to Epidemiology Midterm – Flashcards
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A habitat in or on which an infectious agent lives, grows, and multiplies and which it depends for its survival in nature is a:
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reservoir
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All of the following are activities that fall under completing the clinical picture of disease except: A. All the above are activities that fall under completing the clinical picture of disease. B. Identification of the environment where an infectious agent resides. C. Identification of the types of symptoms that characterize the disease. D. Description of the pathologic changes that occur, the stage of subclinical disease, and the expected length of this subclinical phase of the disease. E. Identification of probable outcomes (recovery, disability, or death) associated with different levels of the disease.
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Identification of the environment where an infectious agent resides.
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Analytic Epidemiology may involve:
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Identifying why a certain group of people developed a given disease.
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Characterizing the distribution of health-related states or events according to person, place, and time is:
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descriptive epidemiology
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Education about the hazards of cigarette smoking. A. Secondary prevention B. Primary prevention C. Tertiary prevention
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Primary prevention
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Effectiveness of a program refers to what?
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The ability of a program to produce benefits among those who are offered the program.
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Mammograms for early detection of breast cancer and surgical intervention if necessary. A. Secondary prevention B. Primary prevention C. Tertiary prevention
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Secondary prevention
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Outbreak of salmonella traced to chicken cooked and held at an improper temperature and served at a potluck supper is an example of a:
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point source epidemic
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Physical therapy for stroke victims. A. Secondary prevention B. Primary prevention C. Tertiary prevention
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Tertiary prevention
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Public health surveillance involves all of the following:
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A. Collection of health data B. Analysis of health data C. Interpretation of health data D. Dissemination
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Referring to Rothman's pies, the different component causes may include what?
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A. Agent B. Host factors C. Environmental factors
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The definition of epidemiology includes the term "distribution." Which of the following best describes this term?
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Frequency and pattern
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The epidemiologic triangle is based on the communicable disease model and is useful in showing the interaction and interdependence of certain factors. Which of the following best describes the Host?
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harbors a disease
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True or False? Epidemiology involves studying infectious communicable disease, not events like injury, obesity, mental health disorders, seat belt use, etc.
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false
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What was the primary cause of death in 1900?
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pneumonia and influenza
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A pathogen is an organism or substance (such as bacteria, viruses, or parasites) capable of producing disease. Can a pathogen cause cancer?
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yes
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It is more difficult to identify diseases with longer incubation periods. For which of the following diseases would it be most difficult to identify the probable cause? A. Salmonella B. Whooping cough C. Pneumonia D. Influenza
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Whooping cough
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Latency period is a term used in the context of which of the following?
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Chronic disease
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The incubation period is associated with which of the following stages?
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the stage of pre-symptomatic disease
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The science and study of the causes of disease and their mode of operation is referred to as:
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etiology
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True or False? Antibiotics work against pathogens because of their toxicity.
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true
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Virulence means what?
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disease evoking power of a pathogen
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What are the inanimate objects that serve a role in disease transmission?
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fomites
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What is a substance that stimulates the immune system?
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antigen
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What is the term for humans who contain, spread, or harbor an infectious organism?
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carriers
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A dichotomous or binary variable represents what type of data?
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nominal
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A two-column table in which the left column displays all possible values a variable can take and the right column displays the number of records in the database with each value is called a:
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frequency distribution
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Descriptive epidemiology includes all except which of the following?
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why
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For which of the following study designs is the unit of analysis aggregated data on the population level rather than individual level data?
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ecologic
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Match the following terms to the correct example. A. Ratio B. Proportion C. Rate 1. Number of men who died from heart disease in a given year divided by the corresponding male population in the same year. 2. Number of men who died from heart disease divided by the number of women who died from heart disease. 3. Number of women taking an epidemiology class divided by the number of students in the class.
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1-C, 2-A, 3-B
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Match the following terms to the correct category. 1. Integer 2. Dose of ionizing radiation 3. Marital status 4. Preference rating A. Nominal data B. Ordinal C. Discrete D. Continuous
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1-C, 2-D, 3-A, 4-B
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The rate ratio involves which of the following? A. Cumulative incidence rates B. Attack rates C. Incidence density rates
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incidence density rates
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True or False? Cross-sectional surveys can be used to measure the prevalence of a health-related state or event.
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true
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Unordered categories or classes represent what type of data?
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nominal
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When the correlation is being assessed between two variables with skewed distributions, which of the following measure is most appropriate? A. Pearson correlation coefficient B. Coefficient of determination C. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient D. Slope coefficient
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Spearman's rank correlation coefficient
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The primary limitation in establishing cause-effect relationships in descriptive studies is due to:
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confounding variable
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true or False? A population pyramid involves an age/sex comparison.
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true
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The relationship between the potential to be self-supporting by age and the dependent segments of the population by age, in other words, those segments of the population not in the work force, are called:
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dependency ratio
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What two theories have been proposed to explain better health among married individuals?
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protection and selection
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Descriptive epidemiology is useful for all of the following except: A. Identifying the extent of the public health problem. B. Describing the public health problem in a way that can be easily communicated. C. Identifying who is at greatest risk. D. Answering why and how the health problem occurred.
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Answering why and how the health problem occurred.
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Health status and mortality of a population can be affected by the levels of employment within the population. This observation is called:
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healthy worker effect
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Describing health-related states or events by person, place, and time allows us to do all of the following except: A. Identify the extent of the public health problem. B. Describe the public health problem in a way that can be easily communicated. C. Identify who is at greatest risk. D. Confirm causal associations.
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confirm causal associations
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In the United States, for which of the following is the age-adjusted cause-specific death rate for males most similar to females? A. Firearm-related injuries B. Occupational injury C. Suicide D. Homicide E. Cerebrovascular diseases
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Cerebrovascular diseases
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A time trend in chickenpox is best referred to as a:
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cyclical pattern
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A tall, pointed population pyramid shape represents all of the following except: A. Low birth rate. B. Poor medical care conditions. C. High death rate. D. Developing countries.
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low birth rate
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William Farr has been described as the founder of modern epidemiology. Which of the following represent his accomplishments? A. He used vital statistics and other statistics to describe epidemiologic problems. B. He demonstrated the need for population studies to describe disease distribution and explain disease causation. C. He promoted the concept of multifactorial etiology. D. He developed standardized statistical measures, such as the infant mortality rate and the standardized mortality rate. E. All of the above
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All of the following
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John Graunt divided disease into two types and causes. What are they?
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acute and chronic
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The Framingham study involves which type of study design?
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cohort
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The primary cause of beriberi, rickets, and pellagra is what?
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vitamin deficiency
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What contribution(s) did Janet Lane-Claypon make to epidemiology?
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She published the results from a cohort study showing that babies who were fed breast milk gained more weight than those fed cow's milk. She developed a case-control study to assess the relationship between breast cancer and selected exposures. She showed that female breast cancer risk was greater for those who did not have children.
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Who applied experimental methods to identify that oranges and lemons were effective remedies for scurvy?
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James Lind
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Who demonstrated that cholera could be transmitted through contaminated water?
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John Snow
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Who exposed his wife and children to cowpox?
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Benjamin Jesty
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Who introduced the terms epidemic and endemic?
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Hippocrates
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Who is often considered the father of modern epidemiology?
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Wade Hampton Frost
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Number of men in the US who died from stroke in 2011/ Number of women in the US who died from stroke in 2011 is an example of...
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A ratio but not a proportion
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Number of men in the US who died from stroke in 2011/Number of men in US who died in 2011 is an example of...
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A proportion but not a mortality rate
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How many additional or contributing causes of death can be listed on the death certificate?
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Two
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What health indicator is used to identify the average number of births per women?
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total fertility rate
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What is the term for a measure of public health directly related to the value of human life and the economic implications of the loss of individuals in a society?
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years of potential life lost
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What is the term for the number of deaths among infants ages 0-1 year during a specified time period divided by the number of live births in the same time period?
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infant mortality rate
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What is the usual rate base for the case fatality rate?
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100
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Why have health indicators typically been related to births and deaths?
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Because such data has been more readily available than morbidity data
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__________________ epidemiology uses several indices to identify the health status of populations.
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Descriptive
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epidemiology
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study of distribution and determinants of health related states/events in human populations and the application of this study to the prevention and control of health problems
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analytic epidemiology
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finding and quantifying associations, testing hypotheses, identifying causes of health related states/events
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frequency
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number of healthrelated states/events and relationship with size of population
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cause
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specific event, condition, characteristic that precedes the health outcome and is necessary for its occurrence
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risk factor
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behavior, environmental exposure, or inherent human characteristic that is associated with an important health condition
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case
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person who has been diagnosed with a health-related state/event
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case definition
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standard set of criteria that ensures cases are consistently diagnosed
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efficacy
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the ability of a program to produce a desired effect among those who participate in the program compared with those who do not
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effectiveness
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the ability of a program to produce benefits among those who are offered the program
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epidemic
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the occurrence of cases of an illness, specific health-related behavior, or other health-related events clearly in excess of normal expectancy in a community or region
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endemic
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the ongoing, usual, or constant presence of a disease in a community or among a group of people
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pandemic
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an epidemic affecting or attacking the population of an extensive region, country, or continent
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common-source epidemic
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arise from a specific source
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propagated epidemics
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arise from infections transmitted from one infected person to another
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vehicle-borne transmission
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needle sharing
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mixed epidemic
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when victims of a common-source epidemic have person-to-person contact with others and spread the disease
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primary case
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first disease case in the population
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index case
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first disease case brought to the attention of the epidemiologist
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secondary case
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the persons who become infected from contact with the primary case
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suspect case
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an individual with all signs/symptoms of a disease but has not yet been diagnosed
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pathogen
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any virus, bacteria, fungus, or parasite
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case severity
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severity of an illness
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agent
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cause of the disease
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host
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an organism that harbors the disease
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environment
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surroundings and conditions external to the human/animal that cause or allow disease transmittion
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time
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incubation periods, life expectancy of the host/pathogen, duration of illness
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fomite
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an object that can harbor an infectious agent and is capable of being a means of transmission
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vector
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invertebrate that is capable of transmitting an infection agent among vertebrates
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reservoir
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habitat of which an infectious agent lives, grows, multiplies, and depends on
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zoonosis
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infectious organism in vertebrate animals that can be transmitted to humans through direct contact, a fomite, or vector
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vehicle
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nonliving intermediary that conveys the infectious agent to a host
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carrier
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contains, spreads, harbors infectious organism
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chain of infection
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agent - reservoir - mode of transmission - host
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Father of medicine; first epidemiologist; atomic theory (four types of atoms and body was composed of four humors)
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Hippocrates
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classification of fevers
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Thomas Sydenham
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Discovered the cure for scurvy
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James Lind
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isolated anthrax
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Louis Pasteur
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improved the microscope
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Leeuwenhoek
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made nursing respectable, advocated cleanliness
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Florence Nightingale
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period when disease is at max severity
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fastigium
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period when symptoms are declining
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defervescence
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recovery period
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convalescence
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period when pathogen is killed off or brought into remission by immune system
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defection
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persons who have been exposed to a contagious disease but may or may not become ill
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quarantine
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applies to persons who are known to be ill with a contagious disease
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isolation
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diminished capacity to perform within a prescribed range
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disability
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any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiologic, or of the anatomic structure or function
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impairment
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design strategies
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descriptive and analytic
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include case reports and case series, cross-sectional surveys, and exploratory ecologic designs
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descriptive study designs
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involves making comparisons between variables where the unit of analysis is aggregated data on the population level rather than on the individual level
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ecological study
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profile of a single individual
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case report
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small group of patients with a similar diagnosis
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case series
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survey conducted over a short period of name and the unit of analysis is the individual; useful for examining associations between health related states or evens and personal characteristics
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cross-sectional survey
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cross-sectional survey that is routinely conducted
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serial survey
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unordered categories or classes ex: gender, race, marital status
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nominal data
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the order among categories provides additional information
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ordinal data
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integers or counts that differ by fixed amounts ex: number of sick days
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discrete data
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measurable quantities not restricted to integer values ex: age, weight, temperature
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continuous data
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public health surveillance includes...
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collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of health data
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temporal
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time
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pyramid showing broad base and tall, pointed shape
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expansive pyramid
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block shaped period
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stationary pyramid
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pyramid showing lower number of younger people
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constrictive pyramid
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describes the relationship by age between those who have the potential to be self-supporting and the dependent segments of the population
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dependency ratio
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some health indicators
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birth rate, mortality rate, fertility rate or TFR
