Epidemiology, a branch of medical science, studies all factors that influence the presence or absence of disease and disorder. Epidemiological research allows us to determine how many people have a disorder or disease, how they are changing and how it affect society.
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It is both a challenging and rewarding field, epidemiology of human communications. Many of the data epidemiologists collect is self-reported, which means that people who participate in studies provide answers. An epidemiological study might collect data about the number of people who say "Yes" to questions asking if anyone in their household has difficulty hearing. Every person may have a different interpretation of "trouble with hearing". This means that results from such a study could be very different from those of an audiometric test in which each household member is given an audiometric test.
Many epidemiological estimates attempt to estimate how the number affected by a disorder change over time. It is also possible for a disorder to be defined differently over time. This makes it more difficult to estimate. Scientists working in different fields may disagree on how to define or measure a disorder.
These are the key terms you need to be familiar with in this field:
Incidence is the number of cases of a disease or disorder that occur in a population during a given time period.
Prevalence is the number of cases of a disease that are known to exist in a population at any given time.
Cost of illness: Most reports refer to medical expenses (i.e. actual money spent) in calculating the cost of illness. The ideal cost of illness would include other factors, such as educational costs, work-related costs, cost of support services, and cost to avoid any health risks.
The burden of disease is the total impact of disease on society beyond its immediate costs. It can be measured in years lost due to illness or the difference between total and disability-adjusted lives expectancy (DALY).
The Disability-Adjusted Living Year (DALY) is a summary measure of the population's health. One DALY is one year of lost healthy life. It's used to calculate the gap between current health and the ideal state in which all members of that population would live until old age in good health.