Epi Exam 2 Questions And Correct Answers
Descriptive Epidemiology ANSWER Has to do with describing the quantity and
distribution of health and illness in a population
Aims of Descriptive Epidemiology- ANSWER Permit evaluations of trends in health and
disease, provides a basis for planning, provision, and evaluation of health services,
identify problems to be studied by analytic methods and suggest areas that may be
fruitful for investigation. Rule out: chance, bias, confounding. Classifies person, place,
and time. Includes case reports, case studies, and cross sectional studies.
Analytic epidemiology- ANSWER Control for chance, bias, confounding
Person Variables Examples - ANSWER Age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status
Place Variables - ANSWER International, national, urban-rural differences, localized
patterns of disease
Time Variables - ANSWER Secular Trends, cyclical (seasonal) trends, point epidemics,
clustering
Secular trends - ANSWER Gradual changes in the frequency of disease over long time
periods. Example is 2000 and 2020
Seasonal Trends- ANSWER Increase and decrease in frequency of a disease or other
phenomenon over a period of several years within a year
Cyclic- ANSWER Frequency of a disease over a period of time. Cyclic will be over years
and seasonal will be month,etc
, Point epidemic- ANSWER May indicate response of a group of from a common place to a
common source of infection simultaneously
Clustering - ANSWER A series of events or cases of a disease or other health-related
phenomena that occur in close proximity in space and/or time, with a definable pattern
of distribution. The aggregation in place is called as: Spatial clustering The
concentration at a particular time is called as: Temporal clustering
Association - ANSWER Defines a relationship between or among variables
Exposure - ANSWER Describes contact with factors believed to be responsible for
morbidity and mortality.
Necessary cause - ANSWER Must be present for effect to occur
Sufficient Cause - ANSWER Is sufficient in itself to produce the effect. Thus, if cause is
present, effect will happen.
Necessary and Sufficient - ANSWER X must be present for Y to occur, if X is present, Y
will always occur
Necessary but not sufficient - ANSWER If X occurs, then Y always occurs but Y may
occur when X is absent. X is one of several causes of the disease and there is more than
one cause
Necessary, but not sufficient - ANSWER X must be present for Y to occur but the
presence of X does not always result in Y.
Not necessary, not sufficient: ANSWER X must not be present for Y to occur, and Y need
not occur if X is present
Descriptive Epidemiology ANSWER Has to do with describing the quantity and
distribution of health and illness in a population
Aims of Descriptive Epidemiology- ANSWER Permit evaluations of trends in health and
disease, provides a basis for planning, provision, and evaluation of health services,
identify problems to be studied by analytic methods and suggest areas that may be
fruitful for investigation. Rule out: chance, bias, confounding. Classifies person, place,
and time. Includes case reports, case studies, and cross sectional studies.
Analytic epidemiology- ANSWER Control for chance, bias, confounding
Person Variables Examples - ANSWER Age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status
Place Variables - ANSWER International, national, urban-rural differences, localized
patterns of disease
Time Variables - ANSWER Secular Trends, cyclical (seasonal) trends, point epidemics,
clustering
Secular trends - ANSWER Gradual changes in the frequency of disease over long time
periods. Example is 2000 and 2020
Seasonal Trends- ANSWER Increase and decrease in frequency of a disease or other
phenomenon over a period of several years within a year
Cyclic- ANSWER Frequency of a disease over a period of time. Cyclic will be over years
and seasonal will be month,etc
, Point epidemic- ANSWER May indicate response of a group of from a common place to a
common source of infection simultaneously
Clustering - ANSWER A series of events or cases of a disease or other health-related
phenomena that occur in close proximity in space and/or time, with a definable pattern
of distribution. The aggregation in place is called as: Spatial clustering The
concentration at a particular time is called as: Temporal clustering
Association - ANSWER Defines a relationship between or among variables
Exposure - ANSWER Describes contact with factors believed to be responsible for
morbidity and mortality.
Necessary cause - ANSWER Must be present for effect to occur
Sufficient Cause - ANSWER Is sufficient in itself to produce the effect. Thus, if cause is
present, effect will happen.
Necessary and Sufficient - ANSWER X must be present for Y to occur, if X is present, Y
will always occur
Necessary but not sufficient - ANSWER If X occurs, then Y always occurs but Y may
occur when X is absent. X is one of several causes of the disease and there is more than
one cause
Necessary, but not sufficient - ANSWER X must be present for Y to occur but the
presence of X does not always result in Y.
Not necessary, not sufficient: ANSWER X must not be present for Y to occur, and Y need
not occur if X is present
