DEFINE EPIDEMIOLOGY
Epidemiology is the science that studies the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. It is the cornerstone of public health, and informs policy decisions and evidence-based practice by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive healthcare
FUNCTION OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Epidemiologists help with study design, collection, and statistical analysis of data, and interpretation and dissemination of results (including peer review and occasional systematic review). Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in clinical research, public health studies, and, to a lesser extent, basic research in the biological sciences.
Major areas of epidemiological study includedisease etiology, transmission,outbreak investigation,
disease surveillance and screening, biomonitoring, and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials. Epidemiologists rely on other scientific disciplines like biology to better understand disease processes, statistics to make efficient use of the data and draw appropriate conclusions, social sciences to understand proximate and distal causes better, and engineering for exposure assessment.
disease surveillance and screening, biomonitoring, and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials. Epidemiologists rely on other scientific disciplines like biology to better understand disease processes, statistics to make efficient use of the data and draw appropriate conclusions, social sciences to understand proximate and distal causes better, and engineering for exposure assessment.
JOHN SNOW & EPIDEMIOLOGY
-John Snow is famous for his investigations into the causes of the 19th century cholera epidemics, and is also known as the father of (modern) epidemiology.He began with noticing the significantly higher death rates in two areas supplied by Southwark Company. His identification of the Broad Street pump as the cause of the Soho epidemic is considered the classic example of epidemiology. Snow used chlorine in an attempt to clean the water and removed the handle. Other pioneers include Danish physician Peter Anton Schleisner, who in 1849 related his work on the prevention of the epidemic of neonatal tetanus on the Vestmanna Islands in Iceland. Another important pioneer was Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis, who in 1847 brought down infant mortality at a Vienna hospital by instituting a disinfection procedure. Disinfection did not become widely practiced until British surgeon Joseph Lister 'discovered' antiseptics in 1865 in light of the work of Louis Pasteur.
-Another breakthrough was the 1954 publication of the results of a British Doctors Study, led by Richad Doll and Austin Bradford Hill, which lent very strong statistical support to the suspicion that tobacco smoking was linked to lung cancer.
In the late 20th century, with advancement of biomedical sciences, a number of molecular markers in blood, other biospecimens and environment were identified as predictors of development or risk of a certain disease. Epidemiology research to examine the relationship between these biomarkers analyzed at the molecular level and disease was broadly named “molecular epideiologym”..While most molecular epidemiology studies are still using conventional disease diagnosis and classification systems, it is increasingly recognized that diseaseluti evoon represents inherently heterogeneous processes differing from person to person.
Studies to examine the relationship between an exposure and molecular pathologic signature of disease (particularly cancer) became increasingly common throughout the 2000s. However, the use of molecular pathology in epidemiology posed unique challenges including lack of research guidelines and standardized statistical methodologies, and paucity of interdisciplinary experts and training programs. To resolve these issues and advance population health science in the era of moleculare, precision medicine “ prmoleculaathology” and “epidemiology” was integrated to create a new interdisciplinary field of “molecular pathological epidemiology” (MPE), defined as “epidemiology of molecular pathology and heterogeneity of disease.
Studies to examine the relationship between an exposure and molecular pathologic signature of disease (particularly cancer) became increasingly common throughout the 2000s. However, the use of molecular pathology in epidemiology posed unique challenges including lack of research guidelines and standardized statistical methodologies, and paucity of interdisciplinary experts and training programs. To resolve these issues and advance population health science in the era of moleculare, precision medicine “ prmoleculaathology” and “epidemiology” was integrated to create a new interdisciplinary field of “molecular pathological epidemiology” (MPE), defined as “epidemiology of molecular pathology and heterogeneity of disease.
SOURCE;;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology#cite_note-25
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