Ideally, a case definition is 100% accurate in identifying who does and does not have the disease in question, but in reality few case definitions achieve this ideal.
- A. TRUE
- B. FALSE
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Case definitions aim for high specificity and sensitivity but rarely achieve perfection due to diagnostic limitations.
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To what extent does epidemiology rely on medical disciplines for its content, and to what extent does it draw upon other disciplines?
- A. It relies entirely on medical disciplines.
- B. It relies entirely on non-medical disciplines.
- C. It integrates medical disciplines with social sciences and biostatistics.
- D. It does not rely on any specific discipline.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Epidemiology is interdisciplinary, combining knowledge from microbiology, biostatistics, social sciences, and clinical medicine.
Calculate the percentage decline in the death rate for all causes. What generalizations can be made about changes in disease rates between 1900 and the present?
- A. Death rates declined significantly due to advancements in healthcare.
- B. Death rates increased due to population growth.
- C. Death rates remained constant despite medical advancements.
- D. Death rates fluctuated without clear trends.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Death rates have declined significantly since 1900 due to improvements in healthcare, sanitation, and living conditions.
What does routine analysis of notifiable disease data at the state level include?
- A. Number of cases reported this week and during the previous 2-4 weeks.
- B. Number of cases reported this week and during comparable weeks of the previous 2-5 years.
- C. Simultaneous analysis by age, race, and sex of the patient.
- D. Analysis by county.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: County-level analysis helps localize outbreaks or regional differences in disease burden.
You are planning a case-control study of lung cancer to test the hypothesis that vegetable consumption is protective against lung cancer. Would you match on smoking? Explain your answer.
- A. Yes, because smoking is a known confounder for lung cancer.
- B. No, because matching on smoking will introduce overmatching.
- C. Yes, because smoking correlates with vegetable consumption.
- D. No, because smoking is unrelated to vegetable consumption.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Smoking is a strong confounder for lung cancer, and matching on smoking helps ensure comparability between cases and controls, preventing spurious associations.
Identify the type of study design described: Fifteen hundred adult men who worked for Lockheed Aircraft were initially examined in 1951 and were classified by diagnostic criteria for coronary artery disease. Every three years they have been reexamined for new cases of the disease; attack rates in different subgroups have been computed annually.
- A. Cohort study
- B. Case-control study
- C. Cross-sectional study
- D. Ecological study
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: This ongoing follow-up represents a cohort study monitoring disease incidence.
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