Epidemiology

Definition and Description of Epidemiology

The word epidemiology was derived from the Greek words where "epi" means upon, "demos" means people, and "logos" means study.

Epidemiology can be defined in detail as the study of distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the prevention and control of health problems. (Last, 2001)

Here, in the definition the distribution refers to analysis of persons, classes of people, places that are being affected by the specific disease and determinants refers to factors that influence population health; these factors may be chemical, physical, biological, social, economic, cultural, behavioral or genetic. Health-related states refers to causes of death, diseases and behaviors such as use of tobacco, use of health services and reactions to preventive treatments. Specified population refers to those groups who indicate identifiable characteristics and application to prevention and control is aim...
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