NUR550 Week 4 Discussion Question

NUR 550 Week 4 Discussion Question

NUR550 Week 4 Discussion Question

DQ1 How does epidemiology helps in researching and addressing population health challenges? Provide a specific contemporary example.

Epidemiology plays a significant role in the life of a researcher, particularly ones dealing with population health. As a study of diseases and their characteristics, they enable researchers to understand numerous aspects of the same and their impact on a population in question. Indeed, epidemiology illuminates various aspects of diseases since it is premised on the assumption that population health is affected by numerous risk factors. In the process of researching and addressing the risk factors affecting a population, epidemiology elucidates a health population, highlights risk factors and then examine the association between the health of a population and the multifarious risk agents (Gulis & Fujino, 2017). In order to achieve the above, epidemiology adopts the usage of the famous host-agent-environment triangle for purposes of describing how an individual, hence a population, becomes ill. The occurrence of a disease happens when an individual interacts with a vector. Whereas the latter has to be capable of causing a disease, the former has to be vulnerable to the same (Frerot et al., 2018). The interaction occurs within an environment that provides an enabling setting. However, epidemiology is not just limited to the interaction between the host and the vector within an environment, but also extends to the analysis of the health status of the people or population inhabiting the environment.

The epidemiological undertakings by scientists have changed greatly as new datasets and disciplines have been introduced to the study of diseases. For instance, the epidemiology of heart conditions will entail the examination of risk factors at a community level, say, among African-Americans. During such a study, conceptual frameworks will be built that will reflect the comprehension of African-Americans’ cultural, sociological, and structural factors that drive the existence of heart conditions among them. In addition, the differences in environmental exposures vis-à-vis the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases among this population will also be used to understand it. From the example, it becomes clear that epidemiology plays a significant role in understanding diseases at a higher level.

NUR550 Week 4 Discussion Question References

Gulis, G., & Fujino, Y. (2015). Epidemiology, population health, and health impact assessment. Journal of epidemiology, 25(3), 179–180. doi:10.2188/jea.JE20140212

Frérot, M., Lefebvre, A., Aho, S., Callier, P., Astruc, K., & Aho Glélé, L. S. (2018). What is epidemiology? Changing definitions of epidemiology 1978-2017. PLoS ONE, 13(12), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208442

DQ2 Research a health concern that impacts a population with which you are familiar. How do biostatistics affect the research focus? How do you define the population as your patient? Make sure to include the population and health concern.

(December 1999) Most people are concerned about their health. When they are well, they wonder how to remain that way. Will regular exercise decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease later in life? Will betacarotene or vitamin C reduce their risk of getting cancer? Does living near overhead power lines increase that risk? When they, their families, or friends are ill, they wonder which treatments would be best. Is chemotherapy more effective than surgery and radiation in treating cancer? Is angioplasty more appropriate than heart bypass surgery for treating blocked arteries?

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Television, newspapers, and magazines fuel this widespread curiosity about the mysterious world of health risks and hazards. How dangerous is radiation exposure? Which populations face the greatest risks? What are the risks of injury in an automobile crash when driving intoxicated versus driving sober, and how are those risks modified in cars with airbags?

All too often, discussions of these and similar questions are characterized more by ignorance or fear than by scientific knowledge. But, the quality of these discussions is being enhanced as scientific research becomes more accessible to the public. The science of epidemiology is a major contributor to this growing body of knowledge about how to prevent and treat disease and injury.

What is epidemiology? It may be formally defined as 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.” In other words, epidemiology is the study of our collective health. Epidemiology offers insight into why disease and injury afflict some people more than others, and why they occur more frequently in some locations and times than in others— knowledge necessary for finding the most effective ways to prevent and treat health problems.

The term “epidemiology” springs directly from “epidemic,” which originally referred to communicable disease outbreaks in humans. Epidemic is derived from the Greek roots epi (upon) and demos (people). The third component of epidemiology, the Greek root logos, means study. Demos and another Greek root, graphein (to write, draw), combine to form the term demography, a kindred population-based science. Not only do epidemiology and demography share a linguistic heritage and other historical origins, they also overlap considerably in their data sources and research domains.

Epidemiology has a descriptive dimension that involves the identification and documentation of patterns, trends, and differentials in disease, injury, and other health-related phenomena. This science also has an analytic dimension, in which the etiology, or causes, of these phenomena are investigated. Epidemiology also helps investigate how well specific therapies or other health interventions prevent or control health problems.

Because health is multifaceted, epidemiology is interdisciplinary. Epidemiology is substantively and traditionally connected to the health and biomedical sciences such as biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, and pathology; and it is closely tied to statistics or, more precisely, biostatistics. In the search for solutions to health problems, however, the interdisciplinary net of epidemiology is often cast beyond these traditional boundaries to incorporate still other disciplines, such as social and behavioral sciences, communications, engineering, law, cartography, and computer science. The complexity of health problems has even spawned specialties within the discipline, including clinical epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, nutritional epidemiology, reproductive epidemiology, injury epidemiology, environmental epidemiology, social epidemiology, and veterinary epidemiology.

Many epidemiologists have earned degrees in medicine or some other specialty as well as graduate degrees or certificates in epidemiology. They work in diverse occupational settings— including international, national, and local health agencies and universities; teaching hospitals; and private corporations. Epidemiologists may be found, for example, in the chemical, pharmaceutical, electronics, energy, automotive manufacturing, and air travel industries.

Epidemiology provides a unique way of viewing and investigating disease and injury. The keys to understanding health, injury, and disease are embedded in the language and methods of epidemiology. Many of the basic epidemiologic concepts are familiar to most people, although only superficially understood. They reside in such everyday terms as exposure, risk factor, epidemic, and bias. This Population Bulletin explains the terms, methods, and materials scientists use to study the health of populations, as well as the historical underpinnings of the modern-day science of epidemiology.