EXERCISE 8: TYPES OF EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES

Name: NONA MAE G. DELA CRUZ

Lab Section: DVM 3-2 | LAB A

Part 1: Provide your brief answers to the following questions.

10 pts

1. Describe briefly the difference between the following:

a. Descriptive and analytic studies
 Descriptive studies are responsible in knowing the frequency of disease,
knowing the distribution, and developing the hypothesis. However, analytical
studies are the testing of a casual hypothesis about the etiology of disease. They
are also considered as longitudinal studies in which investigate change over
time. (Jennings, n.d.)

b. Prospective and retrospective study designs

 Prospective study, termed as Cohort study, is described as it looks forward,
looks to the future, examines future events, and follows a condition, concern or
disease in to the future. While, retrospective study from the name itself “retro”
which means “to look back”. The study that looks back in time to study events
that have already occurred. (Collins and Brown, n.d.)

c. Cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs

 Cross-sectional study measures existing disease and current exposure levels
at one point in time; disregarding the length of time of the study as a whole. As
mentioned above, longitudinal study is also considered as the analytical study
which investigate changes over time. It is also described where two or more sets
of observations are collected for every unit in the study, such as follow-up is
involved in order to allow monitoring of a certain population over a specified
period of time. (Mandil, n.d.)

2. What is the major limitation of a cross-sectional study design?

 The disease and the possible factors responsible for the condition were measured
simultaneously. It often needs to be clarified which came first. Temporal ambiguity is
the term used which is the time sequence of cause and effect cannot be necessarily
determined. (Gundran, n.d.)

3. What measures of association can be calculated from the following studies?

a. Cross-sectional studies Odds Ratio and Prevalence Ratio

b. Case-control studies Odds Ratio
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c. Cohort studies Odds Ratio and Relative Risk

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Part 2: TYPES OF EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY DESIGN. 15 pts.
1. A representative sample of 4800 slaughter pigs was taken at a large abattoir. Blood
samples were obtained and Chronic Pleuritis (CP) lesions were recorded. All sera were
examined for specific antibodies against Actinobacillus pleuropneumonia serotype 2
and 6 (AP2, AP6), Hemophilus parasuis and Influenza suis. The investigation
attempted to find associations between these agents and CP. In the table below results
are reported for AP2.

CP+ CP- Total

AP Titer >10 657 428 1085

AP Titer <10 464 2678 3142

Total 1121 3106 4227

a. What type of study design was used? Cross-sectional Study

b. What measure of association can be calculated? Odds Ratio and Prevalence
Ratio
c. What is the calculated Odds Ratio? 8.86
d. Is there a significant association between AP Titer and Chronic Pleuritis?
Surely, there is a significant association between AP Titer and Chronic
Pleuritis as it indicated in the calculated Odd ratio:
 which has 8.86 (>1)
 P-value of 0.0000, inferring a value ≤ 0.05
 95% Cl of 3.73 to 4.50

2. The role of dehorning heifers in the transmission of the Enzootic Bovine Leucosis
(EBL) virus has been studied. A group of 37 dehorned animals and a group of 39
animals which had not been dehorned were monitored. Among the 37 dehorned
animals, 22 were subsequently shown to be infected. Among the 39 non-dehorned
animals only 3 became infected.

EBL+ EBL- Total

22 15 37
E+
3 36 39
E-
25 51 76
Total

a. What type of study design was used? Cohort Study

b. Complete the 2 X 2 contingency table above
c. What measure of association can be calculated? Odds Ratio and Relative
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 Risk
d. Is there an association between dehorning and EBL? Yes, there is an
association between the two.
e. What is your interpretation of the result? There were also association between
dehorning and EBL as it resulted to:
 Odd ratio value of 17.60 (>1)
 P-value of 0.0000, inferring a value ≤ 0.05
 95% Cl of 3.35 to 17.81

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3. A veterinarian collected blood samples from 23 cows he visited 0-7 days after
abortion. Additionally, on each farm, a blood sample was taken from a cow that gave
birth to a healthy calf. The 46 sera were submitted to a laboratory for testing Brucella
bovis antibodies (BBAb). Other information was provided in the table below.

D+ D- Total

E+ 15 8 22

E- 7 16 24

Total 23 23 46

a. What type of study design was used? Case-Control Study

b. Complete the 2 X 2 contingency table above.
c. What measure of association can be calculated? Odds Ratio
d. Is there an association? Yes, there is an association between the two.
e. What is your interpretation of the result? There were also association between
the BBAb and diseased cows:
 Odd ratio value of 4.29 (>1)
 P-value of 0.0182, inferring a value ≤ 0.05
 95% Cl includes the Null Value of 1

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References:

Gundran, R (n.d.). Types of Epidemiological Studies. Retrieved from VPH 3200 Lecture

https://learn.chm.msu.edu/epi/PPT/EPI546_Lecture_9.ppt\

https://www.bibalex.org/diabetessupercourse/DiabetesPPTLectures/Study%20Designs%20in%
20Epidemiology-Ahmed%20Mandil-2.ppt

Jennings, J. (n.d.). Epidemiologic Study Designs.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/_archived/gynecology_obstetrics/docs/medstudent/rtc
2014/Epi%20Study%20Design%20and%20Exploratory%20Analyses_abb.pdf