Epidemiology And Disease Prevention
Which kinds of diseases do epidemiologists study?
Epidemiology has a fairly broad scope in the types of problems that it investigates. The one that comes to mind first of all is infectious disease epidemiology. And in a sense infectious disease epidemiology forms one of the underpinnings of the history of epidemiology. However, the scope of epidemiology has grown considerably to include other types of problems. For example, many chronic diseases, I mention the example of; coronary heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Many types of disorders, and mental disorders are within the scope of epidemiology. There's a field of epidemiology known as Psychiatric epidemiology. Occupational epidemiology certainly is an important field. Neuro epidemiology, to study about neurologically related diseases. The field of accident and injury epidemiology. There are many, many branches and applications; it is a diverse field.
What is epidemiological 'primary prevention' of disease?
Primary prevention is one of the most important aspects of public health. Primary prevention refers to eliminating the occurrence of disease before it ever happens in the first place. As one could imagine, primary prevention is one of the most effective forms of prevention. After the disease occurs, then other types of prevention are relevant. But, often, those forms of prevention are much more expensive and much more costly than primary prevention. Public health and epidemiology has made great strides in terms of its contributions to primary prevention.
What is epidemiological 'secondary prevention' of disease?
What is epidemiological 'tertiary prevention' of disease?
Tertiary prevention refers to rehabilitation of disease and occurs in the later phases of pathogenesis of disease. For example, when a person who is afflicted with a stroke undergoes rehabilitation to reintegrate them with society and help them perform activities of daily living or to return to work. This would be an example of tertiary prevention.
