Mostly about Epidemiology

Abstract

Epidemiology may be defined as the study of the distribution of health and disease in groups of people and the study of the factors that influence this distribution. Modern epidemiology also encompasses the evaluation of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities and the delivery of health care services. There is a progression in the scientific process (along the dimension of increasing credibility of evidence), from casual observation, to hypothesis formation, to controlled observation, to experimental studies. Figure 4.1 is a schematic representation of the uses of epidemiology. The tools used in this endeavor are in the province of epidemiology and biostatistics. The techniques used in these disciplines enable “medical detectives” both to uncover a medical problem, to evaluate the evidence about its causality or etiology, and to evaluate therapeutic interventions to combat the problem.

Medicine to produce health has to examine disease; and music to create harmony, must investigate discord.

Plutarch A.D. 46–120