Deck 13: Epidemiology

Question 1

The probability an event will occur within a specified time period is referred to by what term?

A) Rate
B) Risk
C) Epidemiology
D) Epidemic

Answer 1

Risk

Question 2

To understand the causes of health and disease, epidemiology studies which population?

A) Individuals
B) Families
C) Groups
D) Populations

Answer 2

Populations

Question 3

What is used to determine patterns of disease using existing factors, exposures, characteristics, and behaviors?

A) Descriptive epidemiology
B) Analytic epidemiology
C) Distribution
D) Determinants

Answer 3

Determinants

Question 4

Public health professionals refer to three levels of prevention as tied to specific stages in what related factor?

A) An epidemiologic triangle
B) A web of causation
C) The natural history of disease
D) The surveillance process

Question 5

A nurse is investigating a serious epidemic of influenza. Which of the following best describes the amount of cases that are being examined?

A) 50 cases
B) 100 cases
C) 500 cases
D) Unable to determine

Question 6

A nurse is studying the characteristics of an agent as part of the epidemiologic triangle. Which of the following is the nurse most likely studying?

A) Human population distribution
B) Salmonella
C) Genetic susceptibility
D) Climate

Question 7

An intervention that focuses on the tertiary level of prevention is implemented by the nurse. Which of the following did the nurse most likely complete?

A) Rehabilitative job training
B) Parenting education
C) Testicular self-examination
D) Family counseling

Question 8

An epidemiologist wants to know what caused severe diarrhea and vomiting in several people at a local banquet. Which of the following principles is being applied in this situation?

A) Descriptive epidemiology
B) Analytic epidemiology
C) Distribution
D) Determinants

Question 9

A nurse offers a screening for hearing defects at a local community center. Which of the following best describes the action of the nurse?

A) Primary prevention
B) Secondary prevention
C) Tertiary prevention
D) Health promotion

Question 10

A nurse who is studying chronic disease considers the multifactorial etiology of illness. What does this imply?

A) Genetics and molecular structure of disease is paramount.
B) Single organisms that cause a disease, such as cholera, must be studied in more detail
C) Focus should be on the factors or combinations and levels of factors contributing to disease.
D) The recent rise in infectious disease is the main focus.

Question 11

A nurse implements a program that focuses on secondary prevention. Which of the following is most likely the topic of this program?

A) Rehabilitation
B) Avoidance of high-risk behaviors
C) Immunization
D) Mammogram

Question 12

A screening for diabetes revealed 20 previously diagnosed diabetics and 10 probable new cases, which were later confirmed, for a total of 30 cases. Which of the following best describes what is being measured?

A) Prevalence
B) Incidence
C) Attack rate
D) Morbidity rate

Question 13

Which statement is true about mortality rates?

A) They are informative only for fatal diseases.
B) They provide information about existing disease in the population.
C) They are calculated using a population estimate at year-end.
D) They reveal the risk of getting a particular disease.

Question 14

A public health nurse (PHN) conducts an immunization clinic for measles. Which of the following is being implemented?

A) Primary prevention
B) Secondary prevention
C) Tertiary prevention
D) Health promotion

Question 15

Because of an outbreak of influenza in a community, a nurse encourages members of the community to receive the influenza vaccine. Which of the following levels of prevention is being used?

A) Primary prevention
B) Secondary prevention
C) Tertiary prevention
D) Multifactorial prevention

Question 16

A nurse refers a client diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease to a vocational rehabilitation program. Which of the following best describes the action of the nurse?

A) Primary prevention
B) Secondary prevention
C) Tertiary prevention
D) Health promotion

Question 17

A public health nurse (PHN) implements a primary prevention intervention in the community. Which of the following is most likely being implemented?

A) Pap smear
B) Blood pressure screening
C) Diet and exercise
D) Physical therapy

Question 18

A public health nurse (PHN) reports an attack rate. Which of the following has most likely been reported?

A) Number of cases of cancer recorded at a medical center.
B) Number of people who died of Ebola in a given year.
C) Number of beef cattle inoculated against mad-cow disease on a farm.
D) Proportion of people becoming ill after eating at a fast-food restaurant.

Question 19

John Snow is called the "father of epidemiology" because of his work with which disease?

A) Cholera
B) Malaria
C) Polio
D) Smallpox

Question 20

What is the interaction between an agent, a host, and the environment called?

A) Natural history of disease
B) Risk
C) Web of causality
D) The epidemiologic triangle

Question 21

Voters have recently decided to have fluoride added to the city water system. Epidemiologists now want to study the effect of fluoride on dental caries in this population. Which of the following would be conducted by the epidemiologists?

A) Ecological study
B) Double-blind study
C) Community trial
D) Screening

Question 22

A nurse is considering the potential for selection bias. Which of the following best describes the situation that is the nurse has encountered?

A) Determining the population to be studied
B) Considering how the participants will enter the study
C) Studying cause and effect relationships
D) Documenting results of the study

Question 23

A nurse is told that a screening test has high specificity. Which of the following is the best interpretation of this information?

A) The test provides precise and consistent readings.
B) The test accurately identifies those with the condition or trait.
C) The test accurately identifies those without the trait.
D) The test has a high level of false positives.

Question 24

A study that uses information on current health status, personal characteristics, and potential risk factors or exposures all at once is referred to by what term?

A) Cross-sectional
B) Ecological
C) Case-control
D) Cohort

Question 25

A nurse states incorporating epidemiology into practice and functions in epidemiologic roles. Which of the following best describes the actions taken by the nurse? (Select all that apply.)

A) Policy making
B) Collection, reporting, analysis, and interpretation of data
C) Environmental risk communication
D) Documentation on patient charts and records
E) Law enforcement

Question 26

What term is used to identify the proportion of persons with positive test results who have a disease, interpreted as the probability that an individual with a positive test result has the disease?

A) Sensitivity
B) Specificity
C) Positive predictive value
D) Negative predictive value

Question 27

What is the most important predictor of overall mortality?

A) Race
B) Age
C) Gender
D) Income

Question 28

A nurse examines birth and death certificates during an epidemiologic investigation. Which of the following data categories is being used?

A) Routinely collected data
B) Data collected for other purposes but useful for epidemiologic research
C) Original data collected for specific epidemiologic studies
D) Surveillance data

Question 29

What term is used to identify the type of epidemiologic study that is used to describe a group of persons enrolled in a study who share some characteristic of interest and who are followed over a period to observe some health outcome?

A) Case-control study
B) Cross-sectional study
C) Cohort study
D) Experimental study

Question 30

During the twentieth century, a nurse participated in research that examined the epidemiology of various diseases. Which of the following best describes the factors that influenced these studies? (Select all that apply.)

A) Increasing rate of poverty
B) Declining child mortality rates
C) Overcrowding in major cities
D) Development of new vaccinations
E) Advancements in medical equipment

Question 31

A nurse is investigating an outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness from a foodborne pathogen. The process associated with which of the following terms is being applied?

A) Attack rate
B) Point epidemic
C) Secular trend
D) Event-related cluster