Why should medical students be interested in EPIDEMIOLOGY? Very basic concepts

What is EPIDEMIOLOGY? Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to control of health problems. Last ed. Dictionary of Epidemiology

But can you imagine what is epidemiology like in clinical practiceby reading definition? Let's see some examples First, I will show you observational data of mortality.

Mortality in Area A and Area B Area AArea B dead/populatio n 500/10, /10,000 mortality5%10%

If you categorize the populations by age and compare mortality of Area A with that of Area B area Aarea B age<60 dead/popu lation 500/10, /5,000 mortality5% 60=<age dead/popu lation 0/0750/5,000 mortality-15%

The factors should be taken into consideration when you look at the data. age sex race year of birth.

Answer CDCCDC revised classification system for HIV (AIDS) infection in 1993

Next example subjects: smokers: 1000 non smokers: 1000 of same age range, sex ratio status of lung cancer for 5 years were observed.

Results in 5 years smokersnon smokers lung cancer/ 1,000 50/1,00010/1,000 morbidity5%1%

If the sample size of both group is not 1,000, but 100. smokers not smokers lung cancer/ total5/1001/100 morbidity5%1%

Next example lung cancerhealthy alcohol intake yes/ no 71/2952/48 yes/no ratio p=0.006 by Chi-square testChi-square test

Non-smokers lung cancerhealthy alcohol intake yes/ no 8/2216/44 yes/no ratio0.36 p=1.0 by Chi-square testChi-square test

Smokers lung cancerhealthy alcohol intake yes/ no 63/736/4 yes/no ratio99 p=1.0 by Chi-square testChi-square test

Why should medical students be interested in EPIDEMIOLOGY?

Welcome to the world of Epidemiology