Analytic Epidemiology



Analytic Epidemiology

Introduction

Epidemiology is a reasonably basic science of public health. Epidemiology can be considered as both:

a) A special approach to the study of diseases with the use of probability theory, statistics, and methods of conducting scientific experiments;

b) The method by which to establish a cause-effect relationship by testing hypotheses about the causes of diseases and how to prevent them;

c) A tool to help make management decisions in public health based on scientific data uncovered the cause-effect relationships and common sense.

Discussion

Epidemiology is one of the areas of medicine. The resulting new epidemiological data are used for disease prevention and health promotion. Thus, the epidemiology may be regarded as both a science and public health practice (applied epidemiology). Here are a few examples of what epidemiologists do today:

Tracking (surveillance) of infectious diseases that occur in a particular population (population group);

An analytical study to determine the effect on the risk of cancer specific component in the diet;

Determination of the efficacy of the education company that aims to reduce human consumption of food rich in cholesterol;

Analysis of trends in disease, and other data to more accurately plan for future needs in health care services.

The word "epidemiology" is derived from the Greek words "epi", "demos" ("people") and "logos" ("science"). It has been proposed many definitions of epidemiology; however, the following definition covers the underlying principles and the role of public health:

"The epidemiology, the science that studies the characteristics and causes of the spread of disease in society, in order to apply the knowledge to solve health problems". The definition of epidemiology includes several key terms that reflect the important principles of this discipline.

Science

Epidemiology is an independent scientific discipline, sometimes called the basic science of public health. It is based on special methods of scientific investigation.

Dissemination

Epidemiology has been studying the frequency and characteristics of the spread of communicable and no communicable diseases in specific populations. Frequency includes not only the absolute number of such events, but also indicators that reflect the risk of disease in a particular population group. Index (number of events divided by group size) is very important for epidemiologists, since it allows for valid comparisons between different population groups. Features identified in the analysis of the spread of disease by time, place of origin, as well as personal characteristics of the patients. TIME OF". We study the dynamics of disease by years, months, and during the epidemic by day and even hour.

Location of disease

Epidemiology studies the occurrence of diseases in space, for example, among urban and rural populations, including employees of certain companies or certain school pupils.

Personal characteristics of the patients

These include demographic characteristics such as age, race, sex, marital status and socio-economic status, and behaviors and the presence or absence of exposure to harmful factors. Analysis of disease at the time, place and other features is an important part of epidemiology, which is called descriptive epidemiology. Descriptive epidemiology provides an answer to the questions: how the ...