Epidemiology is an important branch of medicine. It deals with the varying incidence, course and spread of diseases in a population or population. Likewise, it explores the causative factors of such diseases, not focusing on an individual and his specific case of disease in order to improve it, but rather scientific investigation in the form of statistics of various health parameters that can simulate diseases or epidemics by means of mathematical models and develop necessary countermeasures. Therefore, epidemiology also has possibilities for prevention.
What is epidemiology?
Epidemiology is concerned with the varying occurrence, course, and spread of diseases in a population or population. Epidemiology emerged as a field of research around the middle of the 19th century. Individual physicians began to study the causes and spread of disease at this time. The root word is derived from Greek and means “about the people”. For example, simple questions about the frequency of heart attacks in a social class or at a certain age, illnesses in chemical plants when people are exposed to a greater risk, or whether there is a connection between mental health and poverty are recorded statistically. Here, we look closely at health disorders, injuries, diseases, and the causative factors of a population. The results are used to control health risks and problems, form the basis of clinical studies, and also play an important role in the field of psychology and sociology. Such concern very specific behavioral disorders, suicidal conditions, and autism. Epidemiology also uses physical and mental health conditions to measure connections to the environment and the extent to which they spread, occur in very specific populations, or influence other conditions. Statements can also be made about the rarity or frequency of a particular disease in a population, including infectious diseases and epidemics. Here, research is conducted into how such diseases arise, under which environmental influences and conditions they occur, in order to serve health promotion in a practical way. Diseases and triggers are primarily recorded and compared statistically; conditions can also be studied in greater depth with experimental and observational studies. For example, comparisons are made of the effect that stress, a particular diet, social status or environmental conditions have on a population, the diseases that can develop as a result and the precautionary measures that need to be taken. Mathematical models are also used to detect possible future epidemics or to plan necessary vaccinations. Such studies and models also allow statements to be made about populations and groups of people who have an increased risk of disease. This involves molecular genetic studies that reveal specific differences in susceptibility to certain diseases. These are divided into areas such as environmental medicine, pediatrics, cancer epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, nutritional epidemiology, and cardiovascular epidemiology.
Treatments and therapies
Key metrics include prevalence, exposure, risk, and incidence rates. Prevalence indicates the frequency of a disease. It provides information about which people or which group are exposed to a particular disease at a particular time and what their risk factor is. These measurements are determined and estimated by sampling, since complete surveys of an entire population are not possible. Thus, they represent a very specific proportion, mostly of now cases within a population. They include, among others, deceased, sick and malnourished people, divided by the number of all people in that population. “Exposure” is one of the important terms in the field of epidemiology. This forms the disease-causing factor that finds application in studies of whether, for example, smoking as such a factor leads to lung cancer. Equally important is the counter question of whether, for example, eating vegetables improves health. Both factors are exposures.Risk is the probability of suffering and dying from certain diseases during a period of time. This involves observing how many people died within certain years and what new diseases arose in the population. Likewise, the frequency of a person’s illnesses plays a statistical role, e.g., how often he or she is confronted with influenza or the common cold. The circumstantial rate provides information about the number of new cases. This is divided by the number of individuals in the population and the time period to give the absolute risk. This is contrasted with the relative risk, which is a ratio of exposed to unexposed individuals to risk. For example, it can be determined in more detail which individuals are exposed to an increased risk of cancer and at what age, or that dementia occurs in old age, not in younger years. Basically, then, epidemiology serves an exploration of risk factors and the relationship between exposure and risk or exposure and disease.
Diagnosis and methods of investigation
Important studies include, for example, the case-control and longitudinal studies. In the former, patients are already affected by a disease and healthy people, who serve as control subjects, are asked about the exposure and risk associated with the affected person’s disease. These can be very simple conditions such as passive smoking, and the causal relationship is recorded and the increased risk of a possible disease such as lung cancer is defined. In the longitudinal study, healthy people are asked about exposures and risk factors. The study usually lasts for several years and takes the form of observation and questioning in order to find out whether people who are exposed to certain stress processes or who are at higher risk fall ill more quickly and more frequently or even die as a result of the circumstances. This provides a statistical measure of whether conditions pose an increased health risk.
