Epidemiology is the study of patterns, trends and data about different conditions and illness. It aims to understand how, how often and why conditions happen in population groups. This helps prevent and reduce rates of various conditions.
This includes looking at the prevalence and incidence.
- Prevalence refers to the number of existing cases.
- Incidence refers to the number of new cases.
Social epidemiology focuses on how social determinants influence the health position of an person or group. These social determinants include:
- Income
- Education
- Type of employment
- Job security
- Working conditions
- Food security
- Housing
- Basic amenities
- Environment
- Early childhood development
- Social inclusion
- Conflict
- Geographic location
- Access to health services
There are many different types of epidemiological studies including:
- Cross-sectional studies are observational studies that analyse data at a certain time point.
- Case control studies are observational studies as there is no intervention involved. The aim is to look backwards to figure out the cause of the outcome.
- Cohort studies are a type of longitudinal study involving following people over time to explore different variables’ impacts.