epi

define big data

electronic storehouse of information (volume, variety, velocity)

organizations that provide international and national data?

international: WHO and World bank

national: NIH and NCH

what are vital events?

death, birth, marriages

what is the BRFSS?

used to monitor state level behavioral risk factors associated w/ chronic idseases

what is a registry?

centeralized database for collection of information about disease

what is a register and example

document used to collect the information, national program of cancer registries which monitor cancer trends

what is the US bureau of the census

provides data that can be used to define the denominator rates, conducted every 10 years

what is the public health surveillance

the systematic & continuous gathering of information about the occurrence of disease

syndromic surveillance

using health related data that precede diagnosis and signal a sufficient probability of a case to warrant further public health response

reportable and notifiable disease statistics & limitations & examples

physicians must report cases of certain disease to health authorities that may endanger a population

limitations: limited info about who developed disease and do not seek medical attention, asymptomatic

ex: anthrax, HIV, mumps, zika virus

purpose of cancer registries

monitor cancer trends, show cancer patterns and identify high risk groups

what’s descriptive epidemiology?

classifies occurrence of disease according to person, place, time

what is descriptive epidmiologic study and objectives

a study that is concerned w/ characterizing the amount and distribution of health and disease within population

objectives: disease prevention, design of intervenetions, conduct additional research

3 types of descriptive epidemiolgic studies

case reports, case series, cross sectional studies

what are case reports & ex?

accounts of a single occurrence of noteworthy incident

ex: imported rapid dogs, adverse reactions from cosmetic surgery

what are case series and ex

larger collection of cases that are grouped consecutively and lists common features

ex: reported cases of primary menigoecephalitis

cross sectional studies and examples

investigation that examines relationship b/w diseases & other variables ( prevalence study)

ex: BRFSS

age variable

most importance when describing occurrence of disease

ex: infections that occur in childhodd

sex variable

sex differences in wide scope of health phenomena including morbidity and mortality ex: all cause age specific mortality rates are higher among males, different cancers

race difference ex

lower frequency of asthma in hispanics, incidence of gonorrhea is higher among non hispanic blacks

SES variable and ex

defined as peron’s position in society (income, education, occupation)

ex: those in lowest SES have excess morbidity and morality (access to dental care)

what are health disparities?

differences in the occurrence of diseases and conditions in population

ex: african americans have highest age adjusted overall cancer incident and death rate

localized patterns of disease?

associated w/ specific environmental conditions that may exist in particular geographic area ex: lung cancer & radon gas

secular trends

gradual change in frequency of disease over long periods of time

ex: suicide rates

cyclic trends

increases and decreases in frequency of a disease over period of several years

ex: increases in mosquito diseases during rainy season

point epidemics

indicate the response of a group of people in a place due to contamination

ex: vibrio infection following hurricane katrina

clustering

closely grouped events of health related issues with well defined distrubition patters in relation to time or place

what is association?

linkage between or among variables

what is exposure

contact w/ factors linked to adverse health outcomes

deterministic causality

claims that cause is invariably followed by an effect employs necessary and sufficient causes

what’s a necessary cause

factor whose presence is required for the occurrence of the effect

what is sufficient cause (pie model)

a cause that is sufficient by itself to produce the effect

probablisitc causality (stochastic process)

randomness that is associated with the increased probability that an effect will happen

method of difference

all of the factors in 2 or more domains are the same, except for a single factor which is the cause

method of concomitant variatoin

type of association in which the frequency of an outcome increases with the frequency of exposure to a factor (dose response relationship b/w cigarrets and lung cancer)

what is operationalization?

refers to the process of defining measurement procedures for the variables used in a study

Hill’s criteria of causality?

strength: strong associations give support to a causal relationshp b/w factor and disease

consistency: associatoin has been observed repeatedy

specificity: association is constrined to particular disease

temporality: cause must be observed before effect

biological gradient: (dose response curve) linear trend in the association b/w exposures and diseases

plausibility: associatoin must be biolgoical plausible from standpoint of biological knowledge

coherence: cause and effect

experiment: evidence from experiment to support existence

analogy:

multivariate causality

many types of casual relationships are involved w/ disease (smoking, family history, lifestyle)

inference:

process of passing observations and axioms to generalizatons

point estimate

single value chosen to represent the population parameter

power

ability of a study to demonstrate an associatoin if one exists