Epidemiology MIDTERM p.1
Which of the following are considered vital events? (select all that apply)
Deaths Marriages Divorces
Epidemiology is a qualitative discipline that requires data for descriptive and analytic studies.
False
In the United States, mortality data does not have a high degree of completeness.
False
In a ratio, the numerator and denominator do not necessarily have a specific relationship.
True
Incidence and prevalence are interrelated concepts.
True
It is possible for a single case of a disease to represent an epidemic.
True
Life expectancy refers to the number of years that a person is expected to live, at any particular year.
True
Lifetime prevalence refers to all cases of a disease diagnosed at any time during a person's lifetime.
True
Rates can be expressed in terms of any unit size of population that is convenient.
True
Registries can be used to select cases for case-control studies.
True
The major strength of reportable and notifiable data for epidemiologic research purposes is the completeness of population coverage.
False
True or False? A cross-sectional study is a type of incidence study.
False
True or False? A necessary cause is sufficient by itself to produce the effect
False
True or False? Case series are accounts of a single occurrence of a noteworthy health-related incident.
False
True or False? Descriptive epidemiology characterizes health according to person, place, and age.
False
True or False? One-to-one causation is common because many diseases have one causal factor
False
True or False? The example of meningoencephalitis associated with amoeba (PAM) illustrates a case report.
False
Whooping cough is an example of a nationally notifiable disease
False
On May 1, 2010, the number of residents of Oklahoma who had been diagnosed with asthma at any time during their life was A. The population on June 30, 2010, was B. During the same year, the number of new cases of asthma was C. Which of the following expressions represents the point prevalence (percentage) of asthma?
(A/B) × 100
On May 1, 2010, the number of residents of Oklahoma who had been diagnosed with asthma at any time during their life was A. The population on June 30, 2010, was B. During the same year, the number of new cases of asthma was C. Which of the following expressions represents the incidence rate of asthma (per 100,000)?
(C/B) × 100,000
Theory of Contagion
16th century poet, physician, and mathematician Girolamo Fracastoro proposed that infections are caused by transferable seed-like beings
Which of the following measures helps to make comparisons across age groups?
Age-specific rates
Descriptive epidemiology provides information for:
All of these are correct
Some examples of surveillance systems include those for:
All of these are correct
Variations in infectious and chronic diseases from one country to another may be attributed to:
All of these are correct
What factors may be considered when measuring socioeconomic status?
All of these are correct
Death certificate data in the United States include which of the following?
All of these are correct.
Epidemiologic measures provide the following type of information:
All of these are correct.
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS):
All of these are correct.
Identify the correct statement:
An r of +1 is a perfect direct linear association.
Shows the frequency of cases for categories of a discrete variable
Bar Graph
Selecting a group like a city block for sampling
Cluster Sampling
A range of values that with a certain degree of probability contain the population parameter is known as a:
Confidence Interval Estimate
"Grab bag" samples
Convenience Sampling
What is one of the first steps in presenting data after they have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness?
Count and tabulate cases
Increases and decreases in the frequency of a disease within a year or over a period of several years are known as:
Cyclic Trends
Which of the following is considered a key characteristic of epidemiology?
Distribution Population focus Quantification **ALL OF THESE ARE CORRECT
He developed a method for smallpox vaccination in 1796 when he noticed dairymaids infected with cowpox were immune to this scourge.
Edward Jenner
The occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness, specific health behavior, or other health-related events clearly in excess of normal expectancy is known as which of the following?
Epidemic
Adjusted rates pertain only to mortality rates.
False
Epidemiologic methods can be applied to which of the following public health-related fields?
Health education Healthcare administration Environmental health **ALL OF THESE ARE CORRECT
When a notifiable disease is identified, the ________________ reports to the ________________ which reports to the _________________ which reports to the ___________________ which then reports to the _________________.
Healthcare provider; Local health department; State health department; CDC; WHO
This greek authority made the first epidemiological statement when he departed from superstitious reasons and suggested disease might be associated with environmental factors.
Hippocrates
Shows the frequency of cases for categories of a continuous variable
Histogram
John Snow, a seminal figure in the field of epidemiology, made his mark by:
Identifying contaminated water as the cause of a cholera outbreak in London
Witchcraft, demons, and gods
In classical times, people were mystified by diseases and these were the earliest explanations
Continuous data with equal spaces between points on the measurement scale AND without a true zero point
Interval
Miasma
In the middle ages, the prevailing theory of disease transmission was an airborne toxic vapor composed of malodorous particles from decomposing fetid materials.
The process of passing from observations and axioms to generalizations is known as
Inference
Used to display trends such as time
Line Graph
Germ Theory
Louis Pasteur is credited for our modern understanding since he linked microorganisms to the causation of disease.
For both males and females, what type of cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality?
Lung and bronchus cancer
This measure of central tendency is considered the most accurate but is greatly affected by outliers.
Mean
With respect to derivation of hypotheses, a type of association in which the frequency of an outcome increases with the frequency of exposure to a factor is known as:
Method of Concomitant Variation
With respect to derivation of hypothesis, a situation in which all of the factors in two or more domains are the same except for a single factor is known as:
Method of Difference
This measure of central tendency is considered the least accurate but the only one that can be used on nominal variables.
Mode
Which of the following sources could be used for determining life expectancy?
National Vital Statistics System
Qualitative scale that consists of categories that are not ordered such as race, religion
Nominal
The process of defining measurement procedures for the variables used in a study is
Operationalization
Categorical data that can be ordered such as SES, level of education, likert scale
Ordinal
An outbreak occurring worldwide or crossing international boundaries is known as which of the following?
Pandemic
The founder of toxicology also had this outstanding full name: Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim.
Paracelsus
Shows case frequencies in proportional sizes
Pie Chart
Continous data that has a true zero point
Ratio
Which of the following are miscellaneous data sources? (select all that apply)
School health records Armed forces records
Representativeness, or external validity, refers to the generalizability of the findings to the population from which the data have been taken.
True
Gradual changes in the frequency of diseases over long periods are known as:
Secular Trends
Picking a name from a hat
Simple Random Sampling
Which statement about crude and age-adjusted rates is true?
Since 1980, the age-adjusted death rate in the United States has declined more steeply than the crude death rate.
The most deadly epidemiological event in history was the:
Spanish Flu
Effective when an epidemiologist wants to investigate subgroups
Stratified Random Sampling
Picking every 10th name on a list
Systematic Sampling
For which of the following criteria do epidemiologists need to observe the cause before the effect?
Temporality
Hill's criteria of causality included which of the following?
Temporality Analogy Strength **ALL OF THESE ARE CORRECT
Environmental Influences
The Greek philosopher Hippocrates argued that these factors are associated with diseases
The cycle of epidemiologic research includes which of the following categories?
Theory Hypothesis Operationalization **ALL OF THE ABOVE
Spontaneous Generation
This theory postulated that simple life forms could arise automatically from nonliving materials
Which of the following is NOT considered a use of epidemiology?
To provide healthcare services to specific individuals
Birth statistics include statistics on both live births and fetal deaths.
True
By law, physicians and other healthcare providers must report cases of certain diseases, known as reportable and notifiable diseases, to health authorities.
True
Comparisons among populations that differ in size cannot be accomplished directly by using frequency or prevalence data.
True
Epidemiology is an observational science that capitalizes on naturally occurring situations.
True
Epidemiology is concerned with the distribution and determinants of health and diseases, morbidity, injuries, disability, and mortality in populations.
True
The U.S. Bureau of the Census provides information that is useful for defining the denominator in rates.
True
The World Health Organization and the European Union are two examples of organizations that provide international and foreign data regarding diseases and health.
True
The closer the points lie on a scatter plot, with respect to the straight line of best fit through them, the stronger the association between the variables.
True
The general fertility rate refers to the number of live births reported in an area during a given time interval divided by the number of women age 15 to 44 years in the area.
True
The infant mortality rate is defined as the number of infant deaths among infants age 0 to 1 year divided by the number of live births during the same year.
True
The maternal mortality rate encompasses maternal deaths that result from causes associated with pregnancy.
True
True or False? A noncausal association is one that may be due to chance or random factors
True
True or False? Assignment of some individuals to a particular racial classification on the basis of observed characteristics may be difficult.
True
True or False? Cross-sectional studies measure relationships between diseases and other variables at a particular time.
True
True or False? One objective of descriptive epidemiology is to evaluate trends in health and disease in order to monitor known diseases and identify emerging problems.
True
True or False? The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is an example of an ongoing cross-sectional study.
True
True or False? The causes of morbidity and mortality differ according to the stage of life.
True
True or False? The overriding question that epidemiologists ask is whether a particular exposure is causally associated with a given outcome
True
True or False? The word association refers to a link between or among variables
True
True or False? Those who occupy the lowest socioeconomic positions have excesses of morbidity and mortality from various causes.
True
Multimodal distributions can reflect age-related:
changes in immune status. changes in lifestyle. operation of latency effects. **ALL OF THESE ARE CORRECT
Any factor that brings about change in a health condition or other defined characteristic is known as a(n):
determinant.
Variation in the occurrence of diseases and other health outcomes in populations relates most closely to:
distribution.
The sense of identity that individuals draw from a common ancestry, as well as a common national, religion, tribal, language, or cultural origin, is referred to as __________________.
ethnicity
Contact with a disease-causing factor or to the amount of the factor that impinges upon a group or individuals is known as a(n):
exposure.
The death of a fetus when it is in the uterus and before it has been delivered is known as:
fetal mortality.
The number of live births reported in an area during a given time interval divided by the number of women age 15 to 44 is known as the:
general fertility rate.
Differences in the occurrence of diseases and adverse health conditions in the population are known as:
health disparities
Illness due to a specific disease or health condition is known as:
morbidity.
The web of causation model specifies a type of causal relationship that is
multi-factorial
Any of the possible results that may stem from exposure to a causal factor is known as a(n):
outcome.
The number of late fetal deaths after 28 weeks or more gestation plus infant deaths within 7 days of birth divided by the number of live births plus late fetal deaths during a year is the:
perinatal mortality rate.
Urban diseases and causes of mortality are more likely to be those associated with:
person-to-person contact
The systematic and continuous gathering of information about the occurrence of diseases and other health phenomena is known as
public health surveillance.
Occupational classification is an example of:
qualitative data
Even the US Census Bureau recently admitted that ___________________ is an imaginary sociopolitical construct with no basis in biology or anthropology but instead a way to classify individuals according to their physical characteristics.
race
Monitoring cancer trends in the U.S. population over time is a major application of:
registries.
A method for providing quantitative measurements of risks to health is known as:
risk assessment.
Using health-related data that precede diagnosis and signal a sufficient probability of a case or an outbreak to warrant further public health response is known as:
syndromic surveillance.
Epidemiologic methods are applicable to
the development of needs assessments, the design of prevention programs, the formulation of public health policies **ALL OF THESE ARE CORRECT
Those members of the population who are capable of developing a disease or condition are known as:
the population at risk.
All of the following are considered ratios except:
time