HLSC 4P99 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS|Sure To Pass|Latest Release
1. **What is clinical epidemiology?**
the science of making predictions about individual patients by counting clinical events
in similar patients, using strong scientific methods for studies of groups of patients to
ensure that the predictions are accurate
2. **What are the challenging elements of clinical epidemiology?**
- mostly include diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment results as the outcomes are not
100% certain
- Clinical observations from busy physicians are often compromised and lead to
systemic error (bias), contributing to misleading results (medical error)
- All decisions are also compromised as a result of intrinsic differences or random
patient error (chance)
3. **How do we solve the challenging elements of clinical epidemiology?**
physicians should rely on clinical experiences that are supported by sound scientific
principles
4. **What are the clinical questions of CE?**
abnormality, diagnosis, frequency, risk, prognosis, treatment, cause, cost
5. **What are the health outcomes measured by CE?**
death, disease, discomfort, disability, dissatisfaction
1
,6. **What is the history of numbers in epidemiology?**
- holy bible
- john graunt: bills of mortality
- john snow: case of the broad street pump
7. **What is the role of quantitative analysis in CE?**
clinical outcomes such as death, symptoms, and disability can be counted/dependent
on numerical data therefore used in clinical epidemiology
8. **What is the role of probability in CE?**
clinical epidemiology targets the prediction of health outcomes and uses probability to
determine that
9. **What is a population in a study?**
a large group of people that are representative of the general population
10. **What is a sample in a study?**
a subset of the population that is being studied, the participants in your study - making
the transition to clinical practice simple
11. **What is selection bias?**
when comparisons are made between groups of patients that have different outcomes,
rather than one specific outcome
12. **What is measurement bias?**
when the methods of measurement are different between the groups of patients rather
than one specific treatment
2
,13. **What is confounding bias?**
When two or more factors are so closely associated with one another, we don't know
how each is distorting the influence of the other
14. **What is chance in research?**
Random error - no way of eliminating chance from clinical research so we account for
it statistically
15. **What is internal validity?**
truth as it applies to ONLY to the patients within this study
16. **What is external validity?**
generalizability - truth found in one group of patients that can be transferred to other
patients
17. **What is the use of clinical epidemiology?**
keeps physicians in the know on medical information and use it to make evidence-
based decisions
18. **What is the terminology of Cause?**
Etiology, Pathogenesis, Mechanism of diseases, risk factor
19. **What is a physician's use of cause?**
Prevention, diagnosis, treatment
3
, 20. **What is the difference between a physician and epidemiologist interpretation of
cause?**
P: focus more on "treatable causes"
E: focuses on identification of unknown causable agents of a disease which no
prevention or treatment actually exists
21. **What are Koch's Postulates of Causation?**
1. Every disease has an organism
2. Must be possible to isolate and grow the organism
3. Upon inoculation, a susceptible host must get disease
4. Organism must be retrieved and identified in infected host
22. **What are the pros and cons to Koch's Postulates?**
Pros: believes in a single cause = single disease
Cons: does not account for 1) web of causation (multiple causes = one disease), 2)
single cause = multiple diseases
23. **What is the interplay of multiple causes?**
Has a positive and negative interaction
24. **What is antagonism in the interplay of multiple causes?**
When the combined effect is less than the sum of individual causes NEGATIVE
INTERACTION: decreases the risk
25. **What is synergism in the interplay of multiple causes?**
When the combined effect is more than the sum of individual causes POSITIVE
INTERACTION: magnifies/heightens the risk
4
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS|Sure To Pass|Latest Release
1. **What is clinical epidemiology?**
the science of making predictions about individual patients by counting clinical events
in similar patients, using strong scientific methods for studies of groups of patients to
ensure that the predictions are accurate
2. **What are the challenging elements of clinical epidemiology?**
- mostly include diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment results as the outcomes are not
100% certain
- Clinical observations from busy physicians are often compromised and lead to
systemic error (bias), contributing to misleading results (medical error)
- All decisions are also compromised as a result of intrinsic differences or random
patient error (chance)
3. **How do we solve the challenging elements of clinical epidemiology?**
physicians should rely on clinical experiences that are supported by sound scientific
principles
4. **What are the clinical questions of CE?**
abnormality, diagnosis, frequency, risk, prognosis, treatment, cause, cost
5. **What are the health outcomes measured by CE?**
death, disease, discomfort, disability, dissatisfaction
1
,6. **What is the history of numbers in epidemiology?**
- holy bible
- john graunt: bills of mortality
- john snow: case of the broad street pump
7. **What is the role of quantitative analysis in CE?**
clinical outcomes such as death, symptoms, and disability can be counted/dependent
on numerical data therefore used in clinical epidemiology
8. **What is the role of probability in CE?**
clinical epidemiology targets the prediction of health outcomes and uses probability to
determine that
9. **What is a population in a study?**
a large group of people that are representative of the general population
10. **What is a sample in a study?**
a subset of the population that is being studied, the participants in your study - making
the transition to clinical practice simple
11. **What is selection bias?**
when comparisons are made between groups of patients that have different outcomes,
rather than one specific outcome
12. **What is measurement bias?**
when the methods of measurement are different between the groups of patients rather
than one specific treatment
2
,13. **What is confounding bias?**
When two or more factors are so closely associated with one another, we don't know
how each is distorting the influence of the other
14. **What is chance in research?**
Random error - no way of eliminating chance from clinical research so we account for
it statistically
15. **What is internal validity?**
truth as it applies to ONLY to the patients within this study
16. **What is external validity?**
generalizability - truth found in one group of patients that can be transferred to other
patients
17. **What is the use of clinical epidemiology?**
keeps physicians in the know on medical information and use it to make evidence-
based decisions
18. **What is the terminology of Cause?**
Etiology, Pathogenesis, Mechanism of diseases, risk factor
19. **What is a physician's use of cause?**
Prevention, diagnosis, treatment
3
, 20. **What is the difference between a physician and epidemiologist interpretation of
cause?**
P: focus more on "treatable causes"
E: focuses on identification of unknown causable agents of a disease which no
prevention or treatment actually exists
21. **What are Koch's Postulates of Causation?**
1. Every disease has an organism
2. Must be possible to isolate and grow the organism
3. Upon inoculation, a susceptible host must get disease
4. Organism must be retrieved and identified in infected host
22. **What are the pros and cons to Koch's Postulates?**
Pros: believes in a single cause = single disease
Cons: does not account for 1) web of causation (multiple causes = one disease), 2)
single cause = multiple diseases
23. **What is the interplay of multiple causes?**
Has a positive and negative interaction
24. **What is antagonism in the interplay of multiple causes?**
When the combined effect is less than the sum of individual causes NEGATIVE
INTERACTION: decreases the risk
25. **What is synergism in the interplay of multiple causes?**
When the combined effect is more than the sum of individual causes POSITIVE
INTERACTION: magnifies/heightens the risk
4
