In this module you will be learning all about descriiptive epidemiology and how it is used to help classify the occurrence of disease according to the person, place and time. You will find a great deal of information about guidelines for determining whether an association between a risk factor or environmental condition has a “causal” relationship with a disease. In the modern era, we are able to use molecular and genetic studies to add explanatory power and reduce the need for as much “observational” data as was required in the past. The textbook chapters by Celentano discuss the occurence of disease as well as as introduction on estimating risk. The article in the Lancet about global burden of disease and Socio Demographic Index (SDI) will help to frame these two important concepts. The John Snow video tells the story of epidemiology, as he is considered the founder of “modern” epidemiology based on his methodologies of investigation illustrated in the Cholera outbreak in London, England. My discussion video about expressing the extent of disease focuses on incidence and prevalence and shows a simple a bucket analogy to help explain those relationships between these two concepts. The next video discusses the concept of burden of disease, including the Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) and how its determined. The next video discusses the connection between eating ice cream and death- specifically it covers important differences between correlation and causation. The final video by Hans Rosling talk about correlation and I think the joke he tells in the beginning makes the entire concept very easy to understand. Please make sure you focus on these topics while writing the paper
1) Discriminate between causation and correlation.
2) Define and describe incidence and prevalence and their
3) relationship to each other & health.
4) Describe the utility of rates
5) Describe the concept of disease burden & disability-adjusted life years (DALY)
