15. What is an epidemic? A pandemic? Name epidemics that occurred in the past and present -day.
Epidemic: an unexpected large number of cases of an illness in a particular population,
Pandemic: outbreak over large geographical area.
Past and present day epidemic: Mumps
16. What does the term endemic disease mean? Give an example
Endemic occurs regularly in a population. Ex. Heart disease, cold
17. What is the difference between natality, morbidity and mortality?
Natality (birth rate): Morbidity (sickness) rate: Mortality (death) rates
18. Why are rates important in community health?
Rates enable one to compare outbreaks that occur at different times or in different places.
Ex. Using rates it is possible to determine whether there are more homicides per capitia in city A than city B
19. What is the difference between crude and specific rates?
Crude rate: rate in which the denominator includes the total population
Ex. Crude birth rate: number of live birth in a year divided by midyear population
Ex. crude death rate: number of deaths in a year for all cases divided by midyear population
Specific rate: measure morbidity and mortality for particular population or diseases
Ex. calculate the age specific mortality rate for a population of 35-45 years old dividing by midyear population
Ex. Calculate the mortality rate for a specific decease. Divide the # of deaths due to a particular disease by the midyear population
20. Why are prevalence rates more useful than incidence rates for measuring chronic diseases?
Because incident rate only measures the new cases of a disease and Prevalence rates measure all cases (old and new) of a disease. EX. Chronic disease usually last three months or longer, it is important to know how many people are currently suffering from
21. What is an infant mortality rate? Why is it such an important rate in community health?
Infant mortality rate is the number of deaths under 1 years of age per 100,000 divided by the total # of live birth. It is an important rate in community health because it allows them to compare the mortality rates of infants to that of other age groups d
22. What are notifiable diseases? Name 5
Infectious diseases for which health officials request or require reporting or require reporting for public health reasons.
1)AIDS
2)MUMPS
3)MALARIA
4)TB
5)RABIES
In general, contrast the leading causes of death in the U.S in 1900 with those in 2000. Comment on the differences
In the 20th century the leading cause of death was communicable diseases (pneumonia,TB, gastrointestinal infections)how ever a century of progress in public health practice and biomedical resulted in reduction of death from communicable diseases. The four
24. What is the U.S. Census? How often is it conducted? What type of data does it gather?
CENSUS: The enumeration of the population of the U.S. that is conducted every 10 years. Census gathers data about income, employment, family size, education dwelling types.
25. What types of information can you find on the Statistical Abstract of the United States?
. This book is published annually, is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the U.S. Information is divided into sections under heading:( population, vital statistics, health and nutrition, education, la
26. What kinds of data would you expect to find in the CDC's MMWR?
1. List morbidity and mortality data by state and region of the country, based upon reports from state health department. Report contains: outbreaks of disease, environmental hazards, unusual cases, or other public health problems.
27. List 5 important health surveys that are viable sources of data about the health and health care of the population
1) National health interview Survey (NHIS)
2) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
3) Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)
4) National Health Care Survey (NHCS)
5) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
28. What can be said about the reliability of self reported health data?
1. The data generated by self reported respond to NHIS questions and not actual examinations. So respondents may over report good health habits or under report bad ones.
29. In a descriptive epidemiological study, what types of information does the epidemiologist gather?
When disease and /or death occur in unexpected or unacceptable numbers, epidemiologist carry out investigations. Seek to describe the extent of disease in regard to person, time and place. Epidemiologist take a head count to determine how many cases of a
30. What is the purpose of an analytic study? Contrast observational and experimental studies in regard to methodology and usefulness
Test the hypotheses about relationships between health problems and possible risk factors, factors that increase the probability of disease. 1.Observational studies observe the nature course of events, who is exposed or unexposed and who has not developed
31. With regard to observational studies, how do case/control studies and cohort studies differ in design and in the kinds of results obtainable?
Case/control studies compare people with disease(cases) to healthy people of similar age, sex, and background(controls) with respect to proportion of prior exposure to possible risk factors.
Cohort studies in which researcher select a large number of heal
32. How do experimental studies differ from the observational studies? What value do they have in epidemiology? To what principles must investigators adhere in order to properly carry out an experimental study?
In observation studies the investigators observe the natural course of events, taking note of who is exposed and unexposed and who has or has not developed the disease of interest.
In experimental studies the investigator allocates the exposure and follow