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RUSVM Epi Summer 17 > Intro into Epidemiology > Flashcards

Flashcards in Intro into Epidemiology Deck (27)
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1
Q

What are epidemiological principles essential for understanding?

A
  • spread of disease in populations, and how to manage this
  • occurrence of complex diseases and productivity problems
  • impact of disease on populations
2
Q

What two sources of evidence should be used for decision making when practicing evidence based veterinary medicine?

A

Internal: your own clinical experience and expertise (your experience alone becomes narrow and may become outdated)

External: Evidence from other research (alone, this may be irrelevant without your clinical experience)

3
Q

What is epidemiology?

A

The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems

4
Q

Veterinary epidemiology deals with the investigation of diseases, _______, and _______ in the animal populations

A

productivity and welfare

*it describes the frequency of occurrence of these health-related states/events and how dzs, productivity, and welfare are affect by different factors or determinants

5
Q

What is the primary goal of veterinary epi?

A

To reduce the frequency of dz occurrence, enhance productivity, and improve animal welfare

6
Q

What must you answer to describe the distribution of health related states/events? (4 Ws)

A

Who
what
when
where

study the natural history of the dz and describe the prognosis of the dz

7
Q

What must you answer to identify determinants of health related outcomes?

A

WHY

Identify causes and risk factors of dz and health

Evaluate preventative and therapeutic measures

8
Q

T/F: Veterinary epidemiology focuses very much on the individual

A

FALSE

Focus is on populations, herds, farms, shelters, etc

9
Q

The clinical approach focuses on the ______

A

Individual

*success depends on the disease being known and correct diagnosis/or list of diagnoses

10
Q

What is the epidemiological approach of thinking?

A

Focuses on groups

  1. Describes those individuals in a pop with dz and those with less dz
  2. Look for differences between the groups
  3. Apply measures to reduce contributing factors

** success without known the etiological agent

11
Q

T/F: The best approach in vet med is to used a clinical and epidemiological approach combination

A

TRUE

12
Q

Who is the “father of epi” and dz outbreak did he work on?

A

John Snow

Cholera outbreak in London 1853 - he investigated the cases of cholera deaths and where they received their water supply from

13
Q

Fill in the blanks (descriptive or analytical)

John Snow started with _____ epi, obtaining information on the numerator (# of cholera deaths) and the denominator (# of people supplied with water)

Then he used ______ epi to compare the death rates of cholera in the two different areas

A
  1. descriptive

2. Analytical

14
Q

What form of epidemiology describes the disease or other health related events (answering the What, Who, When, and where)?

A

Descriptive epi

15
Q

What form of epi determines if there is an association between an exposure and outcome in a population and how strong the association is (the WHY)?

A

Analytical

16
Q

In descriptive epi, what is the case definition?

A

Standard criteria for categorizing an individual as a case
**avoids subjectivity

This is important in answering the WHAT: the health/production/or welfare issue of concern

17
Q

How do you answer the WHEN when using descriptive epi?

A

Can be looked at many different ways pending on the dz/health issue you are looking at.. could be:

  • Changing or stable rates of dz
  • Clustered in time or evenly distributed
  • Single point source or intermittent exposure
  • Seasonal variation
18
Q

What are some exampled of WHERE when using descriptive epi?

A
  • geographic location - restricted or widespread
  • relation to a food or water supply
  • Clustered or evenly distributed

*one room or whole barn
etc

19
Q

What are some limitations of descriptive epi?

A
  • cannot formally ID associations between exposure and outcome
  • cannot infer causality

PRO - can be useful to generate hypotheses for future testing/studies

20
Q

Case reports, Case series, and cross sectional studies are all examples of what kind of epidemiological studies?

A

Descriptive

21
Q

_______ epidemiology is aimed at identifying and determining the strength, importance, and statistical significance of associations between exposures and health related outcomes

A

Analytical

22
Q

What is an association?

A

There is an association between an exposure and an outcome when they are dependent on one another

*an identifiable relationship between an exposure and outcome

23
Q

T/F: Epi determines the cause of a disease in a give individual

A

FALSE

It determines the relationship or association between a given exposure and the frequency of disease in populations

24
Q

Causation implies that there is a ____ mechanism that leads from the exposure of the disease

A

True

25
Q

Who and what are involved in the epidemiological triad?

A

Host
Agent
Environment

This is a model of disease causation but is not adequate for diseases that appear to have multiple contributing causes without a single necessary one

26
Q

What model of disease causation is used to represent a disease caused by multiple factors; when a host is exposed to all these factors (not necessarily at the same time), disease occurs

A

Rothman’s model (casual pies)

*individual factors are component causes - all those combined = sufficient cause of disease

27
Q

What is the Bradford-Hill criteria used for?

A

Determining whether an association is causal

Criteria includes:
Temporal relationship
Strength of association
Dose-response relationship
Replication of findings
Biological plausibility
Consideration of alternative explanations
Cessation of exposure
Specificity of the association 
Consistency with other knowledge