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Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the branch of medical science that deals with the transmission and control of disease. Epidemiology is the study of health events, health characteristics and health determinant patterns in a population. It is a cornerstone method of public health research and its major areas of work include outbreak investigation; disease surveillance and screening; biomonitoring; and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials.
131 Questions
How do you calculate the overall attack rate of disease in epidemiology?
To calculate the rates, divide the number of persons who
become ill after they ate a particular food or meal by the total number of
persons (both cases and controls) who ate that food or meal, and multiply
the results by 100.
Number of new cases reported during an endemic period x multiplier
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Total population at the beginning of the endemic period
The multiplier is usually a large multiple of 100, often 1000, 100 000 or 1 000 000 depending on the population size.
How do you calculate the secondary attack rate of disease in epidemiology?
Number of new cases among contacts of known cases x multiplier
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Size of the the contact population at risk
The secondary attack rate is the probability that infection will occur among people at risk given a reasonable incubation period following proven contact with infection persons (AKA known cases) or infected sources
The multiplier is usually a multiple of 100, often 1000, 100 000 or 1 000 000 depending on the population size.
What is difference between crude rate and specific rates?
Crude rates are rates calculated and applied for the entire population disregarding any categories such as gender or age. E.g. crude birth rate calculates the total number of births in a year over the total population including men, women and all children (provided they were not born that year).
Specific rates are rates calculated considering categories or subgroups. E.g. birth rate calculates the total number of births in a year over the total number of women of child-bearing age.
Why is the HIV rate in Saskatchewan so high?
The HIV rate in Saskatchewan is so high, that it has been declared a public-health state of emergency. The infection rate is almost double what that of the rest of Canada. In certain populations of Saskatchewan, the infection rate is even higher than that of Nigeria. Part of the problem is that the areas HIV strategy expired in 2014, and another has never been developed. This causes issues like babies being born HIV+, even though that is totally preventable. The HIV education level has become so low, that the population has become indifferent to infections.
