Epidemiology and social causation of disease Flashcards
Why is public health necessary?
Important to understand patients exist in a community and that the community can affect their health and well being
What is public health?
Interventions aimed at protecting and promoting the health of the population
Organized community efforts to prevent disease and promote health
What is the purpose to screening programmes?
They pick up diseases before symptoms occur
The identify high risk groups and risk factors and subsequently give preventative treatment
What is epidemiology?
The study of the frequency, distribution and determinants of disease
What is a risk factor?
An attribute or exposure that is associated with an increased risk of disease e.g. excess alcohol intake, radiation leak, breast cancer genes
How are mortality rates measured?
Death certificates
Annual statistical returns
How is morbidity rates measured?
Disease registrations
GP surverys
Hospital admissions data
How are mortality rates calculated?
(Number of deaths/population at risk) x 1000
What is the crude death rate?
The mortailty rate for the whole population
What is the age-specific mortailty rate?
The mortailty rate for specific age/sex groups
What is the cause specific mortailty rate?
The mortality rate for specific causes of death
What does standardization of mortailty rates allow?
The comparison of mortailty between populations with different age profiles
How is incidence rate calculated?
Number of new cases of a disease occurring in a population during a specific period of time / number of persons exposed to risk of developing the disease during that period of time
How is prevalence rate calculated?
The number of cases of a disease present in a population at a specific point in time / number of people at risk of having the disease at that point in time
