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Speaking Points
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•Epidemiology is considered the core science of public health
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•It is defined as “the study of the distribution and determinants of
disease in populations”. Note that
this is not just applicable to infectious diseases, but any conditions or
attributes of a population
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•Distribution refers to the frequency and pattern of health-related
characteristics and events in a population: Who gets the disease? How old are
they? Where do they live? Where do they work? What are their race and gender?
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•Determinants are any factors that bring about a change in health
condition: a particular exposure, characteristic, behavior, or event
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References
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•Rothman KJ & Greenland S. Modern Epidemiology, 2nd edition.
Philadelphia: Lippincott – Raven; 1998.
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