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BASIC EPIDEMIOLOGY Notes
BASIC EPIDEMIOLOGY Notes
NOTES
August 8, 2023
Detect/Diagnose:
WHAT: What to report based on case definition (Personnel must know what are the notifiable diseases
based on case definitions)
WHO: Who will report? Everyone should report any Notifiable diseases as stipulated by law.
Collect:
Collect data/ health information
Collect samples/ specimens
Report a case/ health event to the next higher ESU (CIF/CRF)
Compile/ Analyze
Consolidation of data (person, place, time)
Validated, accurate and complete report
Interpret
Systematic process to determine trends, spikes, outbreaks, reached alert or epidemic threshold
Hospital setting: increasing/decreasing/plateau
Privacy
Confidentiality
Consent
Discrimination
Stigma
Contains progressive and comprehensive reforms that will ensure every Filipino is healthy,
protected health hazards and risks, and has access to affordable, quality
IRR: Rule IV Section 17; The DOH shall endeavor to contract province-wide and city-wide
health systems for the delivery of population-based health services.
Minimum components: Primary care provider network with accessible patient records;
Epidemiologic surveillance system
RA 11332 – Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern
Aims to protect the people from public health threats through the efficient and effective
disease surveillance
Enacted in April 2019
IRR circulated in April 2020
Section 1. Priority diseases
a. Disease spread by droplet
b. Airborne diseases
c. Diseases spread by direct
d. Vehicle-born diseases
e. Vector-borne diseases
Section 3. Criteria for inclusion
Passive
Relies on others
Healthcare provider initiates
Usually adequate for monitoring trends over person, place, and time
Active
Aggregate
Zero Reporting
Report of zero cases when no cases are observed within a specific time frame
Role of Laboratory
Reporting Sources
Identifying Information
Demographic information
Clinical information
Exposure and risk factor information
Reporter information
Contacts and other
Case Definition
A uniformly applied set of criteria for deciding whether to classify a person as having a particular
disease, injury, or other health related condition
Application
Clinical Diagnosis
Surveillance
Outbreak investigation
Analytic studies
Characteristics
a. Usually focus on clinical features
a. Symptoms
b. Signs
c. Laboratory result
b. Some include demographic criteria
c. Many are tiered
Line List
Table used for public health surveillance or epidemiologic investigation that includes
demographics
Data Quality
The level of accuracy and completeness of data in a dataset
Do the data accurately reflect reality, so that the data serve the intended purpose
High quality data more likely to lead to better decision-making and planning
Examples of Data quality issues
Individual records
Missing Data
Incorrect data
Unreadable data
Data systems
Delayed records
Missing records
Duplicate records
Transposition
Copying
Coding
Consistency
Range
Mean
o Use all data; sensitive to outliers
o Mean preferred for symmetrical data; not common in epidemiology
Median
Counts
1. Common descriptive measure
2. Provides picture of burden of disease
3. Essential for service delivery or planning
4. First step in calculating rates
Proportion
Comparison of a part to the whole
Useful for describing distribution of characteristics within a population
x/y where
x= is the number with a characteristic
y=total number
Incidence rate- is the frequency of new cases of illness in a population over a specified period of time
Attack rate
Types of tables
Healthcare providers
Public health laboratory work
District Public Health Office
Provincial/City Public Health Office
Central Ministry of Health
o Program managers
o Decision-makers
General Public
Communicate What?
Communicate how?
Phone
Text/SMS
Fax
Paper
Email
Press release
Website posting
Social network
Online submission
Face to face
Immediately
Weekly
Monthly
Annually
During a response to a public health emergency
Routine communication
1. Periodic reports
a. Weekly tables, graphs
b. Monthly/ quarterly summaries
Evaluation
Indicator
Measure of key aspect or attribute of surveillance system
Ex: Percent of facilities sending wekkly report within 2 days of end of reporting week
Target
Performance goal for indicator
Ex. 80% of facilities send report
Timeliness
Surveillance report arrive at next level on schedule
Completeness
Surveillance reports