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INTRODUCTION TO EPIDEMIOLOGY
• Definition, principles, concepts, and basic
assumptions in epidemiology
• By DAWIT Z.
Objectives
After completing this session, you will be able
to:
Define Epidemiology and describe its components
Distinguish between analytic and descriptive
Epidemiology
Describe history and scope of Epidemiology
Describe the basic assumptions and uses of
Epidemiology
INTRODUCTION…
• Definition of epidemiology?
Epidemiology
“Epi” = on or upon
“Logos” = study of
Population
Epidemiology focuses on populations rather
than individuals.
related events
– Occupational health
– Environmental health
– Health behaviors
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SCOPE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY :
Genetic markers of disease risks recently
▲ +
Health related behavior
▲ + Past 25 yrs
Chronic diseases,
injuries,
birth defects
MCH Middle of
Occupational health 20th century
Env’tal health
Since 5th
▲+ century
Endemic communicable diseases &
Non communicable diseases
▲+
Epidemic of communicable diseases
Fields of Epidemiology – Define the following
fields
1. Microbial/Infectious A. Big Epidemiology
epidemiology B. Genetic epid
2. Descriptive epid C. Molecular epid
3. Surveillance epid D. Social epid
4. Global epidemiology E. Clinical epid
5. Testimonial epid F. “Risk factor” epid
6. Entrepreneurial epid
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Epidemiology Fields
Surveillance epidemiology (outbreak
investigations), and epidemic control
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Epidemiology Fields
Molecular epidemiology – investigate disease at the
molecular level to precisely characterize pathological
processes and exposures, to elucidate mechanisms of
pathogenesis, and to identify precursor conditions
Genetic epidemiology – the confluence of molecular
biology, population studies, and statistical models with an
emphasis on heritable influences on disease susceptibility
and expression
Big Epidemiology – multisite collaborative trials, such as the
Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program (HDFP),
Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT), Women’s
Health Initiative (WHI)
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Epidemiology Fields
Entrepreneurial epidemiology – building institutions
and careers by winning research funding and facilities
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BASIC ASSUMPTIONS IN EPIDEMIOLOGY
A. “Disease occurrence in human population is not
random”
Disease is not randomly distributed throughout a
Population
Epidemiology uses systematic approach to study
the differences in disease distribution in subgroup
Why certain individuals/group acquire disease and
others not?
B. “Human disease has causal and preventive
factors
that can be identified through systematic
investigation of different population or
sub group of individuals within a population at
different place or time”.
Allows for study of causal and preventive factors
History of Epidemiology (460-377 B.C)
• Epidemiological thinking traced to the time of
Hippocrates /5th century B.C., but the discipline
did not flourish until the 1940s.
• In 400 B.C. he attempted to explain disease
occurrence from a rational instead of a
supernatural viewpoint on his three books
Epidemics I, Epidemics III, and on Air, Waters
and Places
• Hippocrates - 5th century B.C.- the father of
modern medicine and the first Epidemiologist
• For the first time, he suggested that the
development of human disease might be
related to the external as well as personal
environment of an individual
Whoever wishes to investigate medicine; should
proceed thus:
• Season of the year
• The wind
• The water
• The earth
• Drinking and eating pattern of the people
• Exercise and labor
John Graunt/1662
• The most important advances in epidemiology is
attributed to the English man John Grant (1620 –
1674).
o His research laid the groundwork for both
epidemiology and demography.
o He wrote his work as “Natural and Political
Observations…Upon the Bills of Mortality”, which
was first published in England in 1662”
– He was the first to quantify patterns of birth,
death and disease occurrence, noting male-
female disparities, high infant mortality,
urban-rural differences, and seasonal variations
• Seasonal variation for mortality
• Assessed the impact of plague
James Lind/1747-
• he used an experimental approach to prove
the cause of scurvy by showing it could be
treated effectively with fresh fruit
• Designed first experiments to use a
concurrently treated control group
• William Farr/1839 - an English physician,
established the tradition of application of vital
statistical data for the evaluation of health
problems.
Examined mortality, occupation and marital status
• Defined:
population at risk
Choosing appropriate comparison group
Considered other factors:
• Age,
• Duration of exposure,
• General health status
He was considered the father of modern vital
statistics and surveillance,
• He developed many of the basic practices used
today in vital statistics and disease classification
• He extended the epidemiologic analysis of
morbidity and mortality data, looking at the
effects of marital status, occupation, and
altitude.
Edward Jenner (1749-1823)
• Pioneered clinical trials for vaccination to
control spread of smallpox
• Jenner's work influenced many others,
including Louis Pasteur who developed
vaccines against rabies and other infectious
diseases
• John Snow/1853: an English physician
formulated and tested a hypothesis
concerning the origin of an epidemic of
cholera in London.
• Snow postulated & demonstrated that
cholera was transmitted by drinking
contaminated water.
• Careful mapping of cholera cases in London
during cholera epidemic
– Lambeth, Southwark and Vauxhall Company
(1949 – 1954) polluted by the sewage from
London.
– Lambeth changed the source
• Rate of Cholera declined in the area supplied
– Southwark and Vauxhall Company continued
Evolution of modern Epidemiology
Milestones have been broadly divided into
four stages
• Sanitary statistics
• Infectious disease epidemiology
• Chronic disease epidemiology and
• Multi-level causality
The Era of sanitary statistics
• Common in the first half of the19th century
• The widespread etiologic theory was "miasma” i.e.,
poisoning by polluted emanations from soil, air, and
water
• Focused on assessing the clustering of morbidity and
mortality and on preventive measures such as drainage,
sewage, and sanitation
• Focused on the environment: the theory that all
diseases were due to bad air (contaminations-
miasma)
The Era of infectious disease epidemiology
• Late 19th C - first half of the 20th C
• The germ theory prevailed
• It was the “Period of bacteriology”
• Analytic approach
-laboratory isolation and culture
• Preventive approach: interrupt transmission
of the infectious agent
The Era of chronic disease epidemiology
• Since World War II
• Focused on risk factors at individual levels
• The "black box" approach: exposures are related
to outcomes without always understanding the
intervening factors or pathogenesis
• Primary analytic methods were used:- risk
ratios to relate exposures to outcomes.
• Preventive measures:- control of risk factors
by modifying the environment or human
behavior (e.g., smoking, physical inactivity)
Multi-level causality
• Multiple risk factors interacting to cause
disease including molecular pathogenesis of
diseases.
• The focus was on risk factors as well as causal
pathways at the community level and the
pathogenesis at the individual level
Features of Epidemiology
• Studies are conducted on human population
• Ethical issues: tending to observational studies
• Examines patterns of events in groups of people
• Can establish cause and effect relationship
without the knowledge of biologic mechanism
-Smoking and lung cancer
• Covers a wide range of conditions
From infectious to non-infectious
From simple survey to complex drug trials
Major approaches in Epidemiology
• Descriptive epidemiology
• Analytic epidemiology
Descriptive epidemiology
• One of the basic types of Epidemiology which is
concerned with describing:
• the frequency and distribution of diseases and
other health related conditions by time, place, and
person.
• It provides valuable information:
to allocate resources and plan effective prevention
or education programs
It provides the first important clues about possible
determinants of a disease (formulation of
hypothesis)
Major characteristics in Descriptive Epidemiology
Person, Place and Time.
• For the full description of the occurrence of a
disease, the following questions must be
considered.
• Who is affected?
• Where? and
• When do the cases occur?
• How many?
Person
• People can be categorized with respect to many
demographic and personal variables such as:
• Age
• Sex
• Religion
• Education
• Ethnic group and Race
• Other personal variables
Place: it refers to region, residence, workplace,
topography, or location of rooms, buildings or
other structures
1. Natural barriers
• Environmental or climatic conditions, such as
temperature, humidity, rainfall, altitude, mineral
content of soil, or water supply.
• helpful to see the nature and aetiology of
diseases.
2. Political boundaries.
- intended for planning and allocation of
resources
3. Urban-rural differences in disease occurrence
in terms of migration, living style and differential
environmental exposures.
Time: it refers to seasonal patterns, secular trends, or
acute changes in disease occurrence
There are three major types of changes in disease
occurrence over time.
1. Secular/slow Trends
Years or decades. E.g. AIDS, Lung Cancer
2. Periodic or cyclic changes; which refers to
recurrent alterations in the frequency of diseases.
Cycles have some periodicity (e.g. annual) Malaria,
meningitis
3. Sporadic –at irregular and unpredictable intervals.
Analytic Epidemiology
• It involves explicit comparison of groups of
individuals to identify determinants of health and
diseases.
• Testing of hypotheses, which in turn may arise
from
Case reports
Case series
Laboratory studies
Descriptive epidemiologic studies
• It focuses on determinants of disease by testing
hypothesis.
– Try to answer questions like “why” and “how”
of a disease
• The key to epidemiologic analysis is
comparison group
Purpose/ Aim of analytic Epidemiology
1. To search for cause and effect: Why?? How??
2. To test hypothesis about causal relationship
3. To quantify the association between
exposure and outcome- using Measure of
association
• Many studies have both descriptive and analytic
aspects
data collected in one mode may end up being used
in the other as well.