10: Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. It is the cornerstone of public health, and informs policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive medicine. Epidemiologists help with study design, collection and statistical analysis of data, and interpretation and dissemination of results. Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in clinical research, public health studies and, to a lesser extent, basic research in the biological sciences.
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- 10.1: Principles of Epidemiology
- Epidemiology is the study of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. It is the cornerstone of public health, and informs policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive medicine. Epidemiologists help with study design, collection and statistical analysis of data, and interpretation and dissemination of results.
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- 10.4: Nosocomial Infections
- A nosocomial infection is an infection that is acquired in a hospital or other health care facility. To emphasize both hospital and nonhospital settings, it is sometimes instead called a health care–associated infection. Such an infection can be acquired in hospital, nursing home, rehabilitation facility, outpatient clinic, or other clinical settings. Infection is spread to the susceptible patient in the clinical setting by various means.
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- 10.5: Epidemiology and Public Health
- Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where) and determinants of health and disease conditions in defined populations.
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- 10.5A: Descriptive Epidemiology
- 10.5B: Analytical Epidemiology
- 10.5C: Experimental Epidemiology
- 10.5D: Public Health Measures for Disease Control
- 10.5E: Global Health
- 10.5F: Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases
- 10.5G: Biological Weapons
- 10.5H: Technology and New Infectious Agents
- 10.5I: Current Epidemics
Thumbnail: Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. She was presumed to have infected 22 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook. (Public Domain).