Introduction to Epidemiology
and Study Designs
, What is Epidemiology?
• Epidemiology may be regarded simply as the
study of disease and health in human
populations.
• Here disease may be any adverse health
outcome such as pre-term birth, it may not
necessarily be a disease such as cancer.
, Goals of Epidemiological
Research
1) Describe the health status of populations
by enumerating the occurrence of diseases,
obtaining relative frequencies within
groups and discovering important trends.
2) Explain the etiology of diseases by
determining factors that “cause” specific
diseases or trends.
, Goals of Epidemiological
Research
3) Predict the number of disease occurrences
and the distribution of health status within
populations.
4) Control the distributions of disease in the
population by prevention of new
occurrences, eradication of existing cases,
prolongation of life for those with disease,
or otherwise improving the health status of
afflicted persons.
and Study Designs
, What is Epidemiology?
• Epidemiology may be regarded simply as the
study of disease and health in human
populations.
• Here disease may be any adverse health
outcome such as pre-term birth, it may not
necessarily be a disease such as cancer.
, Goals of Epidemiological
Research
1) Describe the health status of populations
by enumerating the occurrence of diseases,
obtaining relative frequencies within
groups and discovering important trends.
2) Explain the etiology of diseases by
determining factors that “cause” specific
diseases or trends.
, Goals of Epidemiological
Research
3) Predict the number of disease occurrences
and the distribution of health status within
populations.
4) Control the distributions of disease in the
population by prevention of new
occurrences, eradication of existing cases,
prolongation of life for those with disease,
or otherwise improving the health status of
afflicted persons.
