Thanks to visit codestin.com
Credit goes to www.scribd.com

100% found this document useful (1 vote)
913 views33 pages

Epidemiology: Concepts and Uses

This document discusses key concepts in epidemiology. It defines epidemiology as the study of health conditions in human populations, including their occurrence, distribution, and causal factors. It outlines the uses of epidemiology such as diagnosing community health, estimating disease risks, and searching for causes of health and disease. It also describes epidemiological concepts like the ecologic triad of agent-host-environment interactions, herd immunity, and the levels of disease prevention including primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Finally, it discusses descriptive and analytical epidemiological approaches and the steps of an epidemiological investigation.

Uploaded by

Rolando Fausto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
100% found this document useful (1 vote)
913 views33 pages

Epidemiology: Concepts and Uses

This document discusses key concepts in epidemiology. It defines epidemiology as the study of health conditions in human populations, including their occurrence, distribution, and causal factors. It outlines the uses of epidemiology such as diagnosing community health, estimating disease risks, and searching for causes of health and disease. It also describes epidemiological concepts like the ecologic triad of agent-host-environment interactions, herd immunity, and the levels of disease prevention including primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Finally, it discusses descriptive and analytical epidemiological approaches and the steps of an epidemiological investigation.

Uploaded by

Rolando Fausto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 33

EPIDEMIOLOGY

EPIIDEMIOLOGY

- study of the occurrence and distribution of health conditions such as disease, death, deformities or
disabilities on human populations. Also concerned with the study of probable factors that influence the
development of these health condition.
Uses of Epidemiology
a) To study the history of the health populations and the rise and fall of disease and changes in their
character
b)To diagnose the health of the community and the condition of the people: to measure the distribution and
dimension of illness in terms of incidence, prevalence, disability and mortality; to set health problems in
perspective and to define their relative importance; and to identify groups needing special attention.
c)To study the work of health services with a view of improving them. Operational research shows how
community expectations can result in the actual provisions of service.
d) To estimate the risks of disease, accident, defect and the chances of avoiding them
e)To identify syndromes by describing the distribution and association of clinical phenomena in the
population
f)To complete the clinical picture of chronic disease and describe their natural history.
g)To search for causes of health and disease by comparing the experience of groups that are clearly defined
by their composition, inheritance, experience, behavior and environments
Epidemiologic Concepts and Principles a.Multiple Causation Theory/Ecologic
Triad
- Disease development does not rest on a single cause. Health condition result from
a multitude factors.
- Ecologic Triad highlights not only the host’s and agent’s roles in disease
development but also regards the role of the environment as important in disease
causation. The three elements of the ecologic triad interact with one other in an attempt
to maintain an equilibrium. Any major change in any one of the factors may bring about
a disturbance in the equilibrium provoking the appearance of a health problem
a.1)Agent of a disease – any element, substance or force, either animate or inanimate,
the presence or absence of which may serve as stimulus to initiate or perpetuate a
disease process. This happens only when the agent comes in contact with a susceptible
host and under proper environmental conditions
a.2) Host – any organism that harbors and provides nourishment for another organism
Herd immunity – (for community as a host) probability of a group or community
developing an epidemic upon introduction of an infectious agent
a.3) Environment – sum total of all external conditions and influences that affects the life
and development of an organism
- Physical Environment – composed of inanimate surroundings such as the
geophysical conditions or the climate
- Biological Environment – makes up the living things around us such as the plant and
animal life
- Socio-economic Environment –may be in the form of level of economic development of
the community, presence of social disruptions and the like
Natural Life History of Disease
- aids in identifying agent-host-environmental factors that influence their
development, characteristic signs and symptoms during their different periods of progression, and approaches
to preventing and controlling their effects on human
- Periods:
b.1) Pre-pathogenesis – man is exposed to a predisposing factor or stimuli which would caused the
disequilibrium such as the host resistance or susceptibility, agent virulence, toxicity, quantity or changes in
the environment
b.2) Pathogenesis – the host was not able to overcome the stimuli (e.g. smoking or elevated serum levels), it
starts to produce changes in the tissues of humans
(e.g. atherosclerosis in the coronary vessels)
- Early pre-pathogenesis
- Discernible early disease
- Advanced Disease
- Convalescence
Levels of Disease Prevention
- Prevention refers to identification of potential problems so that the nurse can minimize
or probably even eradicate possible disability or deformity in a population-at-risk to a
negative exposure
c.1) Primary Prevention – directed to the healthy population, focusing on prevention of
emergence of risk factors (primordial prevention) and removal of the risk factors or
reduction of their levels (specific protection). It aims to strengthen the host resistance,
inactivate the agent (source of infection) or interrupt the chain of infection through
environmental manipulation/ modification and prevention of spread to human reservoirs
and other susceptible human hosts. Health promotion activities include provision of proper
nutrition, safe water supply and waste disposal system, vector control, promotion of a
healthy lifestyle and good personal habits
c.2) Secondary Prevention – aims to identify and treat existing health problems at the
earliest possible time. Interventions include screening, case-finding, disease surveillance,
prompt and appropriate treatment
c.3) Tertiary Prevention – limits disability progression. The nurse attempts to reduce the
magnitude or severity of the residual effects of both infectious diseases and non-
communicable ones. Day care centers and sheltered workshops are examples of
pportunities to achieve the objective of tertiary prevention in mental illness and drug
abuse
Types of Epidemiologic Approach:
a. Descriptive Epidemiology – concerned with disease distribution and frequency
Aspects Involved in descriptive Epidemiology:
a.1) Observation and Recording of Existing Patterns of Occurrence of Disease
Condition.
 Activities to recognize/ identify the disease:
a.1.1. Screening – presumptive identification of unrecognized diseases or defects through the application
of diagnostic test or laboratory examinations and clinical assessment.
Types of Screening Programs
1)Single Screening Test – only one condition is being identified, such as giving a group of prisoners a TB
skin test
2)Multiphasic Screening Test – a battery of test is used at one time to detect several disease conditions,
such as height and weight measurement, audiometry, and vision screening of all students at a school fair
a.1.2. Case finding – done to look for previously unidentified cases of diseases
a.1.3. Sensitivity – proportion of the persons with a disease who test positive on a screening test. It
measures the probability of the test correctly identifying a positive case of a disease
a.1.4. Specificity – proportion of persons without a disease who have negative results on a
screening test. It measures t he probability of correctly identifying non-cases
 
a.2) Description of the Disease as to Person, Place and Time Characteristics
- Person – characteristics of the afflicted persons (intrinsic char.)
- Characteristics of the Community and Its Population as a Susceptible Host
Herd Immunity – basis for determining the community’s reaction against disease invasion
since it represents the immunity and susceptibility levels of individuals comprising the
population. The immunity level is inversely proportional to the susceptibility level
*Epidemic – a situation when there is a marked upward fluctuation in disease
Incidence. When the proportion of the susceptible are high compared to the
proportion of the immunes
Endemic – implies the habitual presence of disease in a given geographic location
accounting for the low number of both immunes and susceptible
*Sporadic – when disease occurs every now and then affecting only a small number of
people relative to the total population
*Pandemic – there is a simultaneous occurrence of epidemics of the same Disease in
several countries of international perspective
Exposure or Contact rate – represents opportunities for progressive transfer or
transmission of an infectious agent to a susceptible host and depends on the frequency of
contact, and facility of transmission
Chance – probability of contact between the source of infection and the susceptible host and depends upon
the number of sources of infection, the number of immunes and location of the source of infection
- Place – characteristics of the place where the cases came from (extrinsic char.)
- Time – when the disease was initially recognized (temporal pattern)
- Pattern of Disease Occurrence in Terms of Date and Time Onset
* Short Time Fluctuations
> Common Source Epidemic – characterized by simultaneous exposure of a large number of susceptible to
a common infectious agent
> Propagated Epidemic – caused by a person-to-person transmission of disease agent
*Cyclic Variation – refers to the recurrent fluctuations of disease that may exhibit cycles lasting for certain
periods
* Secular variation – refers to changes in disease frequency over a period of many years
a.1.3) Analysis of the General Pattern of Occurrence of the Disease or Condition
Analytical Epidemiology – attempts to analyze the causes or determinants of disease
through hypothesis testing
Intervention/Experimental Epidemiology – answers questions about the effectiveness of
new methods for controlling diseases or for improving underlying conditions
Evaluation Epidemiology – attempts to measure the effectiveness of different
health services and programs

Steps in Epidemiological Investigation


 
1) Establish fact of presence of epidemic
verify diagnosis
reporting
unusual prevalence of the disease
2) Establish time and space relationship
cases limitation/concentration in any area of the affected community
relation of cases by days of onset to onset of the first known case
3) Relate to characteristic of the group of community
relation of cases to age groups, sex, color, occupation, school attendance, past
immunization, etc.
relation of sanitary facilities
relation to milk and food supply
relation of cases to other known cases and known carriers if any

4) Correlate all data obtained


summarized data clearly with the aid of tables and charts
build up the case for the final conclusion carefully using all available evidence
establish the source of the epidemic and the manner of spread
make suggestions as to control and as to prevention of future outbreaks
VITAL STATISTICS
VITAL
STATISTICS
(STATISTICS RELATING TO BIRTHS, DEATHS,
MARRIAGES, HEALTH, AND DISEASE)
WHAT IS VITAL STATISTIC IN EPIDEMIOLOGY ?

• Vital statistics are the compilation and analysis of information


collected from vital event records reported. Health Statistics
is responsible for compiling and analyzing the data from
these vital records.
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF VITAL STATISTIC IN
HEALTH ORGANIZATION ?

• Some of the most important information about the health comes from vital
records, such as leading causes of death, low birth weight babies, and mother's
access to prenatal care.

• Vital records data are used throughout the state and nation for analysis of health
trends, program planning, and policy development.
VITAL STATISTICS FORMULAS
VITAL STATISTICS FORMULAS
WHAT IS CRUDE BIRTH RATE?

• We look at the number of births in a given time period and population as


the crude birth rate, or CBR. More specifically, CBR is the number of
live births per year, is estimated mid-year, and is almost always reported
per 1000 living people.

CBR = (number of births) x 1000 / estimated population at mid-year

 For example, let's say we wanted to calculate the CBR for Anywhere,
USA, for year 2013. If we say the number of live births that year was 672
and the estimated mid-year population was 107,619, we can plug the
numbers in to look like this:

672 x 1000 / 107619 = 6.24 births per 1000 people


CRUDE DEATH RATE

• CRUDE DEATH RATE is the total number of deaths to residents in a specified geographic area (country, state,
county, etc.) divided by the total population for the same geographic area (for a specified time period, usually a
calendar year) and multiplied by 100,000.

CDR = (number of deaths) x 100,000 / estimated population at mid-year

Examples:
15,231 total deaths in New Mexico during calendar year 2006. 2,010,787 = estimated 2006 mid-year population for
New Mexico.

(15,231 / 2,010,787) x 100,000 = 757.5 resident deaths per 100,000 population in 2006 in New Mexico
CRUDE DIVORCE RATE

• The crude divorce rate is the ratio of the number of divorces in


a population during a reference period over the person-years
lived by the population during the same period. It is expressed
as divorces per 1,000 population. 
CRUDE MARRIAGE RATE

The crude marriage rate is the number of marriages occurring


among the population of a given geographical area during a given
year, per 1,000 mid-year total population of the given
geographical area during the same year.
MATERNAL MORTALITY RATE

• MATERNAL MORTALITY RATE is the number of resident maternal deaths within 42 days of pregnancy
termination due to complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and in a specified geographic area (country, state,
county, etc.) divided by total resident live births for the same geographic area for a specified time period, usually
a calendar year, multiplied by 100,000.

• Examples:
84 maternal deaths in 2008 among state residents 130,000 live births in 2008 to state residents

84/130,000 x 100,000 = 64.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births


NEONATAL MORTALITY RATE (NMR)

• Number of neonatal deaths in a given population and reference period and number of
live births in the same population and reference period
POSTNEONATAL MORTALITY RATE

• POST-NEONATAL MORTALITY RATE is the number of resident newborns dying between 28 and 364 days of
age in a specified geographic area (country, state, county, etc.) divided by the number of resident live births for
the same geographic area (for a specified time period, usually a calendar year) and multiplied by 1,000.

(Number of resident postneonatal deaths/Number of resident live births) x 1,000

• Examples:
300 = post-neonatal deaths in 2008 among state residents 150,000 = live births in 2008 to state residents.

(300/150,000) x 1,000 = 2.0 post-neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008 among state residents
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE IN THE
REGISTRATION OF VITAL EVENTS ?

• Registration of vital events is the responsibility of the Local Government Units


(LGUs).

• The hospitals, clinics, rural health units and similar institutions including barangay
secretaries, practicing physicians, midwives, nurses, traditional birth attendants who
attended births and deaths and etc.
WHAT ARE THE BASIC SOURCES OF VITAL STATISTICS ?

• Marriage Certificate – Municipal Form No. 101

• Certificate of Live Birth – Municipal Form No. 102

• Certificate of Death – Municipal Form No. 103

• Certificate of Fetal Death – Municipal Form No. 103A


WHAT ARE THE USES OF VITAL STATISTICS ?

• as input for population estimation/projection for future planning.

• as basis for forecasting requirements for food, housing,


• medical facilities, education and other needs of the population.

• to carry out policy making at local levels for planning health, education services,
housing, etc.

• to address health inequities from communicable disease, chronic disease and injuries.
BIRTH STATISTICS
MARRIAGE
STATISTICS
DEATH STATISTICS

You might also like