Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of the demographics of disease processes, including the study of epidemics and other diseases that are common enough to allow statistical tools to be applied. It is an important supporting branch of medicine, helping to find the causes of diseases and ways of prevention. It can, using statistical methods such as large-scale population studies, prove or disprove treatment hypotheses. Another major use of epidemiology is to identify risk factors for diseases. Epidemiological studies generally focus on large groups of people and relate to a target population that can be identified. This allows statistics to be used to recognize trends and possible causal factors.
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In descriptive epidemiology, data that describe the occurrence of the disease are collected by various methods from all relevant sources. The data is then collected by time, place, and person. Four time trends are considered in describing the epidemiologic data: secular, periodic, seasonal and epidemic. A description of epidemiologic data by place must consider three different locations: where the individual was when disease appeared, where the individual was when he or she became infected from the source, and where the source became infected with the pathogenic agent. The third focus of descriptive epidemiology is the infected person. All relevant characteristics should be noted: age, sex, occupation, personal habits, socioeconomic status, immunization history, etc. Once the descriptive data has been analysed, the features of the disease should be clear enough that further areas for investigation are obvious.
The second epidemiologic method is analytic epidemiology,
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This represents 4.0% of all male 1.8% of female hospitalisations respectively.
The epidemiologic evidence and the corresponding biological understanding of respiratory cancer have supported the conclusion that smoking causes lung cancer. It is well documented that cigarette smoke:
· is the major cause of lung cancer (primary carcinoma of the lung).
· is a cause of heart disease, chronic lung disease, and oesophageal cancer.
· contributes to the development of cancer of the bladder, pancreas, and kidney.
· causes low birth weight in babies of women who use tobacco during pregnancy.
· contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, at least 43 of which cause cancer in humans and animals.
· contains nicotine, which causes a chemical addiction to cigarette smoking through its effect on the nervous system.
The risk of lung cancer among cigarette smokers increases with the duration of smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. This observation has been made repeatedly in cohort and
Communicable diseases are one of the major concerns in public health, as it poses a significant threat to the population. The study of epidemiology allows nurses to understand the cause of the disease and helps determine the levels of prevention to be implemented in order to limit the spread of the disease (Lundy & Janes, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to: a) use an epidemiological model to identify the organism involved in the case study, as well as its pathology, etiology, diagnosis, and prognosis; b) describe the distribution of health events within Schenectady; c) identify the determinants affecting morbidity and mortality; d) determine the deterrents that exists within the affected population; e) calculate the outbreak’s incubation period; f) identify the individuals affected during endemic levels; g) provide a list of foods that were most susceptible to mass contamination; and h) determine the people involved in the food borne outbreak and analyze the possible cause of this occurrence.
study I am going to go into detail about the epidemiology, discuss the signs and
“Epidemiology is the study of distributing in determinants of disease and disability and populations” (Mausner & Bahn 1974). It’s a basic science of the public’s health and is a measured scientific control that relies heavily on data and study design. Those who study epidemiology focus on specific population and how disabilities and disease affect them. Epidemiological methods have been applied to infectious disease outbreak investigations, but also to studies of longer-term chronic disease investigations. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is the largest telephone survey in the world. It’s used to determine the commandments of many health risk behaviors among populations. Surveys were developed and conducted to mon...
Many epidemiologists usually specialize in one or more of the following specific fields, substance abuse, bioterrorism, injury, chronic disease, or infectious disease. Even though there are different areas of epidemiology that are available, they all
Mathematical models and computer simulations are important tool to investigate spread and control of infectious diseases. These two jointly build and test theories that are involved with complex biological systems related disease, getting quantitative conjectures, determining parameter sensitivities due to change and estimating parameters from data. It is important to state that modeling is very crucial in epidemiology since in most cases we cannot do experiments. Modelling gives better idea in e-epidemiology when the system is simulated with various parameters because conducting experiments in e-epidemiology is critical.
Heymann, D. (2004). Control of Communicable Diseases Manual.18th edition. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.
From there, “the minimum educational requirement to work as an epidemiologist is a master’s degree from a school of public health. Some jobs require a doctorate” (“Institute”, 2009 p. 23). Most jobs require a strong background in statistics and the master’s degree to have an emphasis in epidemiology. Any growth within the field usually requires a doctorate. However, simply having a master’s in public health does not guarantee a career in epidemiology. Many other factors are required or heavily encouraged. To determine these factors, current epidemiologists were asked how they achieved success in their jobs in a 2002 survey conducted by Ross Brownson, Jonathan Samet, and Stephen Thacker. The most common positive comments were “the choice of institution from which a scientist graduates, the choice of hot research topics, and hard work. For many persons, access to a strong mentor has been noted as one of the most important career advantages.” (Brownson et al., 2002). Many also stated that an intense curiosity was needed to be successful. In addition, due to the unpredictability of disease, epidemiologists must be willing to work unconventional hours. Therefore, epidemiology is not an easy career to begin. Nonetheless, it can be a very rewarding career. Most people choose epidemiology because they
The human population has a high susceptibility to the contraction of new diseases and outbreaks of these diseases are of high risk. Diseases in recent times that have broken out into the human population are the H7N9 flu strain and SARS. Despite the risk, outbreaks like H7N9 and SARS have been controlled due to epidemiology and other disease control methods. Outbreaks of disease are not uncommon to the human population as they move to new areas around the world with foreign diseases that the native residents would have developed a resistance to.
Even though we have done important things for the treatment, control and prevention of infectious diseases, there are still emerging infectious diseases that are a big problem. One such problem is the relationship between ecology and epidemiology. Ecology is the study of the economy of nature, while epidemiology is the study of the distribution of disease, or other health-related conditions and events in human or animal populations, in order to identify health problems and possible causes. Both of these help to collect data from the field and try to understand how certain organisms survive in their
Epidemiological transition theory is the idea that there are complex changes in patterns of health and disease in relation with demographic and technologic transitions. The original three phases include the age of pestilence and famine, the age of receding pandemics, and the age of degenerative and man-made diseases (Omran, 2005). The age of pestilence and famine is characterized by high mortality due to war, famine, and epidemic outbreaks (Omran, 2005). Very few countries are in this phase as average life expectancy has increased globally. However, in Africa, ongoing conflict and famine continue to plague many populations. In the age of receding pandemics, average life expectancy increases and infectious disease outbreaks become fewer in frequency
In an effort to analyze the natural history of a disease, an epidemiological triangle is used. An epidemiological triangle is comprised of a susceptible host or individual, environment, and a causative agent. The host tends to have low immunity, poor nutrition, and a concurrent disease. The host tends to have poor
The Black Death, a horrible pandemic plague that spread through all of Europe, taking 25,000,000 people along with it. In 1347, a mysterious pandemic appeared in the city-states of Italy just as Europe was recovering from famine. The Epidemic did not end until 1351 partly due to the belief of the people that this plague was spread through the air and was gods way of punishing them for their sins. Although this plague killed many people, its effects led life to the way it is today. The three most important effects of the Black Death on Western Europe were the changing relationships between people and the church, the People beginning to express their faith and opinions through artwork, and the fact that Jews were blamed for the outbreak of the disease and were targeted by Europeans.
can cause cancer ( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/smokingthefacts/hp099201.html). Many of the ingredients in cigarettes are not substances that humans usually consume, but smokers (and the non-smokers around them) do. Some of the ingredients contained in cigarettes are a type of rat. poison, a type of paint stripper, a type of toilet cleaner, lighter. fuel, the chemical found in mothballs, poison that was once used in gas chambers and there is even a type of rocket fuel found in cigarettes (http://ash.org/additives.html).
When looking back on history, it is evident to see that humans by nature are warriors. Humans often find themselves fighting mysterious battles against disguised enemies. Throughout history the earth has been afflicted with mysterious diseases, which tend to invisibly cause the preponderance of civilizations to perish. The evolution of infectious diseases has and always will provide challenges for humankind (Hoff, Smith, and Calisher 6-7). Over the course of time, humans gradually developed a preference to live in large urban settings. Urbanization and the cross-cultural interaction of civilizations have both strongly provoked widespread illness, which is known as an epidemic or pandemic based upon size. An epidemic is when a common disease affects a large number of people within a particular region (Lamb). A pandemic is similar to an epidemic but is even more widespread than an epidemic, and spreads throughout entire continents or even the world. Despite the slight variation in meaning, most pandemics are interchangeably denoted as epidemics (Friendlander 13-14). Epidemics and pandemics have formed the course of human history by inflicting lifestyle alterations and abruptly killing large masses of people. When one thinks of widespread disease it is easy to think that pandemics and epidemics are things of the past. Unfortunately, epidemics are commonly found today in poorer countries and major pandemics are still on the rise, such as the modern disease AIDS (Lampton 12-15). Nonetheless, epidemics and pandemics affect large portions of the world’s population; thus, these ongoing diseases will always influence the history of mankind because they force transformation amongst even the strongest civilizations.
Approximately one in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit. Half of these deaths will occur in middle age. The most common of the diseases caused by smoking is cancer, of course. Not only is it a cause of lung cancer, but cancer of the larynx, and the esophagus, and it contributes to the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, and kidney. Lung cancer comes from the tar in the cigarettes.