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Branch

Epidemiology

ep-ih-dee-mee-OL-uh-jee
Population Health Field
Magnifying Glass Over Clustered Points

The study of how disease and other health outcomes are distributed across populations and what determines that distribution, the population level practice this atlas carries as distinct from medicine's own clinical study of disease in the individual patient. Epidemiology supplies public health with its central tools: incidence, prevalence, outbreak investigation and the tracing of causes back to exposures.

Facts
Central Question
Who is affected by a given health outcome, where, and why, traced back to the exposures and conditions that explain the pattern. 1
Key Debate
Association is not causation, and epidemiology's own history is full of disputes over whether an observed correlation reflects a real causal exposure or a confounding factor, resolved case by case through further study rather than by the discipline's own rules alone. 1
Connections

Associated With

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Institutions
Source Africa CDC Website
Biostatistics, Branches

Both are counted among public health's traditional core disciplines; biostatistics supplies the quantitative methods epidemiology's population measures depend on.

Source Wikipedia: Biostatistics
Carlos Finlay, Figures

Carlos Finlay proposed in 1881 that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes, foundational disease-transmission epidemiology.

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Institutions
Source ECDC Website

Includes

Attack Rate, Concepts
Austin Bradford Hill, Figures
Source Wikipedia: Austin Bradford Hill
Basic Reproduction Number, Concepts
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Broad Street Pump Investigation, Milestones
Source UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, John Snow Site
Carlos Finlay, Figures
Source Wikipedia: Carlos Finlay
Case Fatality Rate, Concepts
Contact Tracing, Practices
Source United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Official Site
Disability-Adjusted Life Year, Concepts
Disease Surveillance, Practices

This atlas's own DataBrief names surveillance, outbreak investigation and disease frequency measures as the Epidemiology branch's own population practice.

Doll and Hill British Doctors Study, Milestones
Epidemiological Transition, Concepts
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Framingham Heart Study Founding, Milestones
Source United States National Institutes of Health Official Site
Herd Immunity, Concepts
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Incidence, Concepts
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
John Snow, Figures
Source UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, John Snow Site
Joseph Goldberger, Figures
Source Wikipedia: Joseph Goldberger
Launch of the Global Burden of Disease Study, Milestones
Prevalence, Concepts
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Publication of The Modern Rise of Population, Milestones
Richard Doll, Figures
Source Wikipedia: Richard Doll
Thomas McKeown, Figures
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Wade Hampton Frost, Figures
Source Wikipedia: Wade Hampton Frost
William Farr, Figures
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
William Foege, Figures
Source Wikipedia: William Foege
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
  • Epidemiology
    Epidemiology is a branch of medical science that uses statistics to study the distribution of disease in human populations and the factors determining that distribution.
  • Includes: Epidemiological Transition
  • Includes: Incidence
  • Includes: Basic Reproduction Number
  • Includes: Herd Immunity
  • Includes: Prevalence
  • Includes: Thomas McKeown
  • Includes: William Farr
View the Source
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, John Snow Site
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
  • Includes: John Snow
  • Includes: Broad Street Pump Investigation
View the Source
United States National Institutes of Health Official Site
US National Institutes of HealthIncludes: Framingham Heart Study FoundingView the Source
United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Official Site
US Centers for Disease Control and PreventionIncludes: Contact TracingView the Source
ECDC Website
European Centre for Disease Prevention and ControlAssociated With: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, About ECDC, infectious disease protectionView the Source
Africa CDC Website
Africa Centres for Disease Control and PreventionAssociated With: Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, About Us, surveillance platformsView the Source
Wikipedia: Biostatistics
WikipediaAssociated With: Biostatistics, Applications, Public health sectionView the Source
Wikipedia: Richard Doll
WikipediaIncludes: Richard Doll, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Richard Doll, Lead section
who became an epidemiologist in the mid-20th century
View the Source
Wikipedia: Austin Bradford Hill
WikipediaIncludes: Austin Bradford Hill, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Austin Bradford Hill, Lead section
was an English epidemiologist
View the Source
Wikipedia: Wade Hampton Frost
WikipediaIncludes: Wade Hampton Frost, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Wade Hampton Frost, Lead section
was an American epidemiologist
View the Source
Wikipedia: Joseph Goldberger
WikipediaIncludes: Joseph Goldberger, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Joseph Goldberger, Lead section
was an American physician and epidemiologist
View the Source
Wikipedia: Carlos Finlay
WikipediaIncludes: Carlos Finlay, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Carlos Finlay, Lead section
was a Cuban epidemiologist
View the Source
Wikipedia: William Foege
WikipediaIncludes: William Foege, Lead section
Quote, Includes: William Foege, Lead section
was an American physician and epidemiologist
View the Source
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