Deck 2: Measures of Disease Frequency

Question 1

Which type of population is often difficult to define because an individual's decision to use a facility may depend on how far it is from home, the person's particular medical condition, or his/her type of medical insurance?

A) Fixed population
B) Dynamic population
C) Candidate population
D) Catchment population

Answer 1

Catchment population

Question 2

Membership of which type of population is always defined by a life event?

A) Fixed population
B) Dynamic population
C) Candidate population
D) Catchment population

Answer 2

Fixed population

Question 3

New cases of disease are measured in which type of population, which is a population of people who are "at risk" of getting the disease?

A) Fixed population
B) Dynamic population
C) Candidate population
D) Catchment population

Answer 3

Candidate population

Question 4

Which of the following can be thought of as the average risk of getting a disease over a certain period of time?

A) Incidence rate
B) Cumulative incidence
C) Point prevalence
D) Period prevalence

Question 5

Which measure is most useful for evaluating the effectiveness of programs that try to prevent disease from occurring in the first place?

A) Incidence
B) Prevalence
C) Morbidity
D) Mortality

Question 6

Researchers who study diseases such as birth defects (wherein it is difficult to gather information on defects present in miscarried and aborted fetuses) and chronic conditions such as arthritis (whose beginnings are difficult to pinpoint) have no choice but to use which measure?

A) Incidence
B) Prevalence
C) Morbidity
D) Mortality

Question 7

Which measure of disease frequency is usually reserved for infectious disease outbreaks?

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

Question 8

The definition of a disease is usually based on a combination of physical and pathological examinations, diagnostic test results, and signs and symptoms.

Question 9

The denominator of a proportion is always a subset of the numerator.

Question 10

Because incidence measures a person's transition from a healthy to disease state, time must pass for this change to occur and be observed.

Question 11

Because measurement is the cornerstone of epidemiology and "health" and "sense of well-being" are nonspecific and difficult to quantify, epidemiologists have almost entirely focused their activities on which of the following, such as specific disease, injuries, disabilities, and death?

A) Absence of disease
B) Absence of health
C) Presence of disease
D) Presence of health

Question 12

The "lifetime risk of breast cancer" among women is a commonly cited measure of which of the following?

A) Incidence rate
B) Cumulative incidence
C) Point prevalence
D) Period prevalence

Question 13

Which of the following takes into account the specific amount of time that the members of a population are followed until they develop the disease?

A) Incidence
B) Prevalence
C) Morbidity
D) Mortality

Question 14

Which of the following refers to the proportion of the population that is diseased during a specified duration of time, such as the year 2017?

A) Incidence rate
B) Cumulative incidence
C) Point prevalence
D) Period prevalence

Question 15

Which of the following is useful for estimating the needs of medical facilities and allocating resources for treating people who already have a disease?

A) Incidence
B) Prevalence
C) Morbidity
D) Mortality

Question 16

Which of the following measures reflects both the number of individuals who died of a particular cause and the age at which the death occurred?

A) Crude mortality rate
B) Cause-specific mortality rate
C) Age-specific mortality rate
D) Year of potential life lost

Question 17

Which of the following is a general word that can apply to a disease, condition, or event?

A) Incidence
B) Prevalence
C) Morbidity
D) Mortality

Question 18

A unifying framework for thinking about a population is whether its membership is permanent or transient.

Question 19

Even when clear-cut criteria are used, disease definitions often change over time as more is learned about a disease and its various manifestations.

Question 20

The incidence rate is based upon the assumption that everyone in the candidate population have been following for a specified period of time.