The term
was derived from greet word, EPI – among, Demo– People, and Logos – Study. This
is to say, it means ‘study among people’. Initially it was only applied to the study of epidemics mainly of
communicable diseases but was later
extended to mean the study of non-communicable diseases, accidents, operations
of health etc. it utilizes approaches used in other sciences such as
microbiology, statistics, parasitology, social sciences etc in its analysis of
frequency distribution and determination of health and disease in population.
In
general, the study aims at,
· - Describing the distribution and
magnitude of health and disease problems in human population.
· - Identifying etiological factor in
the pathogenesis of a disease.
· - Providing the data essential the
planning, implementation and evaluation of services for the prevention, control
and treatment of disease and to the setting up of priorities among these
services.
Epidemiological
approach differs from clinical medicine in that it deals with disease
distribution in populations, communities and groups whereas clinical medicine
deals with the features of the disease in yhe individual.
It
examines the frequency and distribution of disease against the background of
various circumstances in man’s total environments, weather physical, social or
biological with the aim of establishing a relationship between disease
conditions and man’s interaction with his environment, this approach is what is
referred to as ecological approach.
Thus, it
is the study of the distribution and determination of health related state or
events in specific population and the application of these studies in the
control of health problems, it can also be defined as the study of the
distribution, determination and deterrents of diseases and other health related
events in human population and the use of such studies in the control of health
problems, going by these definition, epidemiology is therefore concerned with,
a Distribution of disease and health related
events in human population: it aims at identifying the patterns of disease
distribution I the community in terms of person( Gender, age, race, country and
geographical locations, rural, urban) and time (season, year, duration) ,and
the epidemiologist seek answers to
questions such as who, when and where?. The above factors put together could
lead to the formulation of hypothesis.
Deterrents
of a disease:-
These are the underlying causal or risk factors influencing, driving or
contributing to the development of the disease or health condition.
Etiological
hypothesis are tested to establish these determinants which could be physical,
biological or social.
Deterrents
of disease
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