Author: Lauren Bishop
Since this guide is focused between the social sciences and medical sciences, it is also important to understand common terminology and measures used in epidemiology.
For the language enthusiasts out there, epidemiology is derived from the Greek words epi (upon), demos (people), and logos (study). Together, quite literally, epidemiology is the study of what falls upon the people, or the science of epidemics. As such, epidemiology’s origin was to study epidemics of (mostly) infectious diseases.
Nowadays, epidemiology is focused on much more than infectious disease. Modern epidemiology is the study of the determinants and distribution of health-related states or events in specific populations.
In other words, it is important to understand the time, place, and person(s) when describing the health of a population.
References
Ahrens. W., & Pigeot, I. (2014). Handbook of Epidemiology. 2nd Edition. New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Bonita. R., Beaglehole, R., & Kjellström, T. (2006). Basic Epidemiology. 2nd Edition. World Health Organization.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2006). Principles of epidemiology in public health practice: an introduction to applied epidemiology and biostatistics. 3rd Edition.