Principles of Epidemiology

Today's global environment sees many traveling across continents on a regular basis for business and pleasure. As a result, illness and disease now travels just as freely from continent to continent. The principles and practices of epidemiology work to address the cause and effect relationships that develop between people and disease.

Identification

The field of epidemiology tracks health problems as they occur within population settings. Using data collection, statistics and analysis, researchers identify possible trends related to illness and disease. Observation methods draw upon a number of fields, some of which include social science, anthropology, medicine and psychology. Results obtained are used to contain health problems within populations and prevent future occurrences.

Function

The principles of epidemiology center around three factors within any population setting: the host, the agent and the environment. This approach is known as the epidemiologic triad, where the host represents the population, the agent is the health concern in question and the environment is the geographical area of interest. From there, scientists look for cause-effect relationships within the host-agent-environment triad. Data collection sets provide the information needed to track correlations, target areas and establish probabilities based on results from past studies.

Features

The study of population groups and health risk factors involve two different approaches. When working with population groups, a descriptive approach is used where specific health factors are tracked and analyzed. Health factors include mortality rates, symptoms, and frequency of occurrence. An analytic approach is then used to compare the characteristics of the people affected by an illness with those who remain unaffected. Results from these findings allow scientists to determine how the illness, or disease was started, and how it spreads. In some instances, researchers employ a laboratory-based approach that makes use of volunteers, or animals. This approach is more suited to hospital settings and university research projects.

Significance

Epidemiology studies play a significant role within the rapidly developing areas of medicine. Research results contribute to policies surround public health issues, as well as occupational and environmental health concerns. The ability to determine the baseline rates of disease for specific areas is a needed informational source when health policy issues are under consideration. Cause-and-effect hypotheses contribute to research efforts conducted within the area of preventive medicine. Research methods used in epidemiology are in line with applied clinical research and clinical trials conducted within hospital settings. Epidemiology and medicine work together to identify and control new viral strains before they reach epidemic proportions.

Considerations

The importance of epidemiological studies increases as populations across the world continue to grow. As with sickness, and disease in general, the sooner its identified and contained, the better. Accurate cause-effect relationships are ultimately based on thorough observational methods. Complex diseases with multiple risk factors continue to be a challenge in terms of data collection needs, and analytical models capable of incorporating all relevant risk factors. Our emerging global environment will require more comprehensive statistical models capable of identifying causal relationships across broad spectrums.

Resources

• Epidemiology - Learning Materials
• Epidemiology - Medicine & Health