PBH 452: Epidemiology - Cohort Studies and Analytical Studies Chapter 8

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering analytic epidemiology, observational versus analytical designs, cohort studies, case-control studies, transmission terms, and statistical measures from PBH 452 lecture notes.

Analytical Epidemiology

A branch of epidemiology that focuses on the 'why' and 'how' by assessing associations between exposures (or underlying risk factors) and specific health outcomes using comparison groups to explain causes and test hypotheses.

Observational Studies

Epidemiological studies addressing 'when', 'where', and 'who' (time, place, and person variables) that provide information on the occurrence or distribution of health outcomes and can generate hypotheses.

Ecological Fallacy

An assumption that an association found at the group- or population-level is the same as an association at the individual-level.

Secular Time Trend

A long-term disease pattern or variable in which health events or biological markers fluctuate over the course of many years past initial diagnosis (e.g., diabetes blood glucose levels).

Cyclic Time Trend

A seasonal or periodic time pattern in disease frequency that recurs at predictable intervals (e.g., Norovirus occurring most frequently between November and April).

Case Report

A descriptive observational study focused on a detailed profile of a single patient or individual; it cannot be used to determine statistical associations between a risk factor and a health outcome.

Case-Control Study

An analytical study that compares individuals who have a health condition or illness (cases) with those who do not (controls) and utilizes a retrospective approach going backwards in time to determine exposure status.

Matched Case-Control Study

A type of case-control study where case subjects and control subjects are paired based on shared demographic characteristics, such as age, race, or gender.

Recall Bias

A disadvantage in retrospective studies where subjects have difficulty accurately remembering past events or determining exactly when an exposure first occurred.

Carrier

A person or animal that harbors a specific infectious agent without discernible clinical disease, and which serves as a potential source of infection.

Reservoir

A place where infectious agents normally live and multiply, which can include human beings, animals, insects, soils, or plants.

Cohort Study

An analytical study where recruited participants are disease-free at baseline but have a known exposure status, followed over a specific time period to measure disease incidence.

Prospective Cohort Study

A longitudinal study design in which exposed and non-exposed groups are identified at baseline and followed forward in time to determine the incidence of disease outcomes.

Retrospective Cohort Study

A cohort study design that examines past exposure data (such as medical records or hospital data) at a specific time point in the past to understand the incidence of diseases occurring in the present.

Odds Ratio (OR)

The primary statistical measure of association calculated within case-control studies to quantify the relationship between an exposure and a disease.

Relative Risk (RR)

The primary statistical measure of association calculated in cohort studies to compare the risk of developing a health outcome between exposed and non-exposed groups.