What kinds of information about disease can be gained through understanding concepts of epidemiology?
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns, and determinants of health and disease conditions in defined populations.
It is a cornerstone of public health and shapes policy decisions and evidence-based practice by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive healthcare. Epidemiologists help with study design, collection, and statistical analysis of data, amend interpretation and dissemination of results (including peer review and occasional systematic review). Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in clinical research, public health studies, and, to a lesser extent, basic research in the biological sciences.
Major areas of epidemiological study include disease causation, transmission, outbreak investigation, disease surveillance, environmental epidemiology, forensic epidemiology, occupational epidemiology, screening, biomonitoring, and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials.
- Distribution: Epidemiologists study the distribution of
frequencies and patterns of health events within groups
in a population. Using descriptive epidemiology,
epidemiologists characterize health events in terms of
time, place, and person.
Determinants: Epidemiologists search for causes or
factors that are associated with an increased risk or
probability of disease
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