Research work · 1997
Problem Investigation in Epidemiology
Haroutune K Armenian
Epidemiology and Health Services
Abstract
Abstract These are three examples of problems that could be addressed using epidemiologic methods. Epidemiologists have developed systematic approaches that help provide answers to many questions facing health professionals. For these professionals at various levels of decision-making, epidemiologists have the tools to generate information and to conduct a systematic process of making inferences. In the first example, of a suspected increase in the number of cancer cases in a neighborhood, when the state epidemiologist decides to look into the request, details about the cases must be reviewed, diagnoses validated, and expectations of numbers of cancer cases within a similar community established for comparison. The state epidemiologist could also study unusual patterns or characteristics in these cases and decide, based on such data as well as other clinical information, whether the concerns of the reporting physician are warranted and further investigations are needed.