Exam #2 Study Guide
· Chapter 4
o Define Descriptive Epidemiology
o Answers who, what, when, where
o Different descriptive study designs – define, compare/contrast, identify strengths/weaknesses of each study design
§ Ecologic study
· What is the ecologic fallacy?
§ Case Report and Case Series
§ Cross-Sectional Surveys
§ Serial surveys
o Kinds of data in descriptive epidemiology
§ Nominal
§ Ordinal
§ Discrete
§ Continuous
Be able to define/identify/calculate (where applicable) and interpret the following:
o What is a ratio? A proportion? A rate?
§ Incidence-density rates (person-time rate)
§ Attack rate (cumulative incidence rate)
§ Prevalence rate
o Crude and age-adjusted incidence and mortality rates
§ Rationale for adjustments
§ How to adjust
· Direct Method
· Indirect Method
o Standardized Morbidity (or Mortality) Ratio (SMR)
o Numerical methods to present epidemiological data
§ Measures of central tendency
· Mean, median, mode
§ Measures of dispersion
· Range, standard deviation
o Empirical rule (see p. 105-106)
o Measures of statistical association
§ Correlation co-efficient
· Chapter 5
o Descriptive epidemiology and person, place, time
o Why is descriptive epidemiology helpful for health care administrators and/or health education specialists?
§ Person
· Age
o Population pyramids
§ Shapes of pyramids indicative of birth rates, mortality rates, socio-economic factors, etc.
o Dependency ratio – what is it, and its importance?
· Gender
· Race/Ethnicity
· Marital/family status
· Family structure
· Occupation
· Education
§ Place
· How can utilize data based on place?
§ Time trends – compare/contrast
· Secular trends
· Cyclic patterns
· Season trends
· Chapter 6 – General Health and Population Indicators
Be able to identify/define/calculate (where applicable) and interpret the following health indicators:
o Birth
§ Birth rate
§ Fertility rate
§ Total fertility rate
§ Contraceptive prevalence
o Mortality
§ Three things that generally cause death (see p. 159)
§ Who certifies a death?
§ Cause of death and death certificate data
· What data are on a death certificate?
§ Types of mortality rates
· Crude mortality rate
· Cause-specific mortality rate
§ Infant mortality rate
· Why is this a major health status indicator?
· Neonatal mortality rate –
o Post neonatal mortality rate
o Perinatal mortality rate
· Fetal death rate (stillbirth)
§ Abortion rate
§ Maternal mortality rate – Why is this a major health status indicator?
§ Proportional mortality ratio (PMR)
§ Case fatality ratio (CFR)
§ Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL)
· How to calculate YPLL?
· YPLL Rate – why use YPLL rate?
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