Epidemiology is the medical discipline focused on epidemics.
Epidemiology is the treatise that focuses on epidemics , according to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) . It is a discipline of science dedicated to the analysis of the causes, the links, the way in which they are distributed, the regularity and the control of different factors that are associated with health .
Epidemiology uses resources from health sciences (such as medicine ) and social sciences to study the well-being of people in a given community. It is part of preventive medicine and helps the design and development of public health policies.
Epidemics and epidemiology
Epidemics constitute the greatest point of interest for epidemiology. An epidemic is known as a disease that affects a large number of people at the same time and that expands in a certain geographic area during a certain period of time. Its effect can often be harmful.
The appearance of an epidemic means a number of patients that exceeds the average predicted by specialists. For example: if 40 cases of a disease are detected per month in country
Epidemiology attempts to establish the cause and effect link between exposure and disease . By analyzing the social causes that lead to the development of an epidemic, epidemiology makes it possible to develop prevention campaigns and care more effectively for those affected. That is why this discipline is key to community health .
Thanks to epidemiology, it is possible to develop prevention campaigns and improve care for those affected by an epidemic.
Issues to study
The epidemiologist is the expert who is dedicated to epidemiology and his object of study is the way in which a disease is distributed depending on time and place in a society; This way you can determine if its presence has spread or has diminished, compare its frequency between different areas and if people from each affected area have different characteristics in which the disease manifests itself.
The points studied by epidemiology are:
- Demographic aspects of those affected (sex, age and ethnic group to which they belong)
- Biological aspects ( antibodies , enzymes, blood cells, physiological functions... and anything that can be used to understand the effect that the disease causes)
- Social and economic aspects (economic situation, activities they carry out, circumstances of their birth...)
- Genetic aspects (blood group and family history of similar diseases)
- Habits (consumption of narcotics, cigarettes, alcohol or any medication, as well as degree of physical activity and diet)
The scientific method of epidemiology
For the development of this science, the scientific method is used and it consists of carrying out an exhaustive study on the lives of the affected individuals, individually and also collectively, in the community of which they are part or where they have become ill.
Furthermore, epidemiology proposes prevention plans for future infections , in order to prevent the disease from spreading, acquiring highly harmful characteristics, potentially becoming a pandemic or epidemic that will put the survival of the group at risk .
The epidemiological method is one that has been designed by epidemiologists in order to help obtain a hypothesis that allows the investigation to be carried out . Through this method, an attempt is made to eliminate all possible causes already known, in order to establish a rational study that reaches effective conclusions.