Qi Ling Gu Professor Manwell

2/14/11 Public Health

Homework # 6

1. What are the major types of epidemiologic studies?

The major types of epidemiological studies are intervention, cohort, and case-control studies.

2. What are intervention studies, cohort studies, and case control studies?

Intervention studies are done to test a new treatment for a disease where in a clinical trial; one group is

exposed to the intervention while a control group is not exposed. Cohort studies involve large numbers of

people, all healthy at the time the study begins. These individuals are observed over a period of time to

see if those who were exposed were more likely to develop the disease than those who were not. This

experiment is the most accurate of the three types of epidemiological studies. Case control studies start

with people who are already ill and look back to determine their exposure. Case-control studies focus on a

smaller number of people and can be completed quickly.

3. Understand the terms of population at risk, incidence, prevalence, distribution of disease, placebo

effect, randomized double-blind clinical trial, relative risk, case-control study, odds ratio.

Population at risk: The size of the population being studied. The denominator of the rate. Ex: The rate of

ovarian cancer in a city of one million =.

Incidence: The rate of new cases of disease in a definite population over a defined period of time.

Prevalence: The total number of cases existing in a defined population at a specific time.
Distribution of disease: Comprised of the who, when and where question. The who question characterizes

the disease victims by factors such as age, sex, race, and economic status. The when question looks for

trends in disease frequency over time. The where question looks at comparisons of disease frequency in

different countries, states, counties, or other geographical divisions.

Placebo effect: An inactive substance similar in appearance to the drug or vaccine being tested. The

purpose is to prevent subjects from knowing whether they are receiving the intervention.

Randomized double-blind clinical trial: Each subject is assigned to the treatment group or the control

group at random. Both the patient and the doctor are blind as to whether the patient is receiving the drug

or placebo. This is to prevent the possibility that doctors might interpret the patient’s condition differently

if they know how the patient is being treated.

Relative risk: The ratio if the incidence rate for persons exposed to the factor to the incidence rate for

persons in the unexposed group.

Case-control study: Start with people who are already ill and look back to determine their exposure.

Odds ratio: