Deck 2: Epidemiology

Question 1

As a nation shifts from primarily rural-agricultural to urban-industrial, what changes are seen in the health profile of the nation?

A) Leading causes of death change from mostly chronic diseases to infectious diseases.
B) Leading causes of death change from mostly infectious diseases to chronic diseases.
C) Infectious diseases are eliminated entirely
D) Both infectious and chronic diseases are reduced to a minimum.
E) There is no difference

Answer 1

Leading causes of death change from mostly infectious diseases to chronic diseases.

Question 2

What do studies on diet, exercise, and obesity suggest with respect to heart disease?

A) Diet and physical activity have little effect on an individual's likelihood of developing heart disease.
B) Changing one's eating habits toward a diet low in saturated fat can reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
C) Obesity is the result of individual choices and relates little to the development of heart disease.
D) Only lengthy, vigorous physical activity has been shown to provide some protection against heart disease.
E) None of the above.

Answer 2

Changing one's eating habits toward a diet low in saturated fat can reduce the risk of developing heart disease.

Question 3

Germ theory provided a framework for understanding the causal agents of disease. What are the five agents recognized today?

A) Biological, social, psychological, toxic, and environmental.
B) Biological, physical, social, mental, and metaphysical.
C) Biological, physical, social, mental, and psychological.
D) Biological, nutritional, chemical, mental, and psychological.
E) Biological, nutritional, chemical, physical, and social.

Answer 3

Biological, nutritional, chemical, physical, and social.

Question 4

The _____________ study was important for showing that arteriosclerosis does not strike people at random as they age, but that highly susceptible individuals can be identified in advance.

A) CVD1960.
B) Framingham.
C) Tuskegee.
D) Whitehall.
E) Engels.

Question 5

_________________ has special significance for a society because it is traditionally used as an approximate indicator of a society's standard of living and quality of health care delivery.

A) Prevalence of chronic diseases.
B) Life expectancy.
C) Infant mortality rate.
D) Crude birth rate.
E) Age adjusted fertility rate.

Question 6

What is NOT a factor in the increasing emergence of epidemics?

A) Increase in international transportation channels.
B) Migration from rural areas into urban cities.
C) Increase in public sanitation.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 7

Which of the following plays a particularly important role in the transmission of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa?

A) Government.
B) Health delivery system.
C) Migrant labor force.
D) Homosexuals.
E) Drug users.

Question 8

A scientist who studies the origin and distribution of all types of diseases is best described as a(n):

A) Biochemist.
B) Social worker.
C) Epidemiologist.
D) Demographer.
E) Sociologist.

Question 9

The lowest AIDS mortality rates for American males are found in:

A) Native Americans.
B) Non-Hispanic whites.
C) Hispanics.
D) Non-Hispanic African Americans.
E) Asians.

Question 10

What is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for more than one-third of all deaths?

A) Diabetes.
B) HIV/AIDS.
C) Stroke.
D) Heart disease.
E) Cancer.

Question 11

A ratio, such as the crude mortality rate, is expressed as:

A) Total number of cases divided by prevalence.
B) Total number of cases divided by incidence.
C) Total number of cases divided by total population.
D) Total number of cases times total population.
E) Total number of cases times incidence.

Question 12

At the end of 2007, the majority of AIDS cases in the U.S. were found in:

A) Homosexual and bisexual men.
B) Homosexual and bisexual women.
C) Intravenous drug users.
D) Blood transfusion patients.
E) Children of a parent with AIDS.

Question 13

The science of epidemiology has passed through three eras and is entering a fourth. In what order did it pass through the first three eras?

A) Sanitary, Infectious, Chronic.
B) Sanitary, Chronic, Infectious.
C) Chronic, Sanitary, Infectious.
D) Chronic, Infectious, Sanitary.
E) Infectious, Sanitary, Chronic.

Question 14

A researcher is interested in reporting how many people in a community were diagnosed with HIV during the past month. He/she would measure the:

A) Incidence.
B) Prevalence.
C) Crude rate.
D) Cases.
E) Age-specific rate.

Question 15

Since 2000, the number of AIDS cases has sharply increased in what region of the U.S.?

A) Northwest.
B) West.
C) Midwest.
D) Northeast.
E) South.

Question 16

Whose investigations into cholera outbreaks established the foundation of modern epidemiology?

A) Louis Pasteur.
B) John Snow.
C) Karl Marx.
D) Ralph Paffenbarger.
E) All these men helped lay the foundation of epidemiology.

Question 17

In epidemiology, a "case" refers to:

A) An investigation into an outbreak of disease or illness.
B) The classification of a disorder, illness, or injury.
C) A collection of a single type of disorder, illness, or injury.
D) A single episode of a disorder, illness, or injury involving an individual.
E) There is no such epidemiological term.

Question 18

The primary focus of the epidemiologist is on:

A) Catastrophic disease outbreaks.
B) Societal demographics.
C) Health and wellness of children.
D) Individual's diseases.
E) Health problems of social aggregates.

Question 19

AIDS is transmitted in Africa and some parts of Asia primarily by:

A) Heterosexual contact.
B) Homosexual contact.
C) Intravenous drug use.
D) Blood transfusions.
E) Infected mother to child.

Question 20

Which of the following is TRUE about incidence and prevalence?

A) Prevalence is used to analyze the rate at which new cases occur.
B) Incidence and prevalence are interchangeable terms.
C) Incidence is reported in raw numbers while prevalence is expressed as a ratio.
D) The incidence for a given disease can be low at the same time that its prevalence is high.
E) None of the above

Question 21

The current public policy approach to dealing with AIDS is:

A) Through banning high-risk behaviors.
B) Through mandatory universal testing.
C) Through quarantine of infected individuals.
D) Through safe-sex education.
E) None of the above.

Question 22

Since AIDS results from a private act that has extreme social consequences, serious moral and legal questions also arise about the rights of ____________ versus the welfare of _______________.

A) Individuals, government.
B) Individuals, society.
C) Hospitals, individuals.
D) Hospitals, society.
E) Government, society.

Question 23

People who become infected with HIV may be subjected to discrimination, which can isolate them socially. This social outcome is:

A) Stigma.
B) Stagflation.
C) Disintegration.
D) Disentanglement.
E) All of the above.

Question 24

_______________ activity by Latin American men is believed to be important in the infection of a large proportion of females.

A) Bisexual.
B) Heterosexual.
C) Intravenous drug use.
D) Homosexual.
E) Illegal.

Question 25

Crude death and birth rates are too gross a measure to be meaningful for most sociological purposes

Question 26

Many sociologists working in the field of medicine are epidemiologists.

Question 27

The social environment, referring not only to living conditions but also norms and values, can cause sickness.

Question 28

What a person does, who a person is, and where a person lives can specify what health hazards are most likely to exist in that individual's life.

Question 29

The HIV outbreak in China initially occurred among ____________ in Yunnan Province.

A) Bisexuals.
B) Homosexuals.
C) Intravenous drug users.
D) Blood transfusions recipients.
E) Infected mothers to children.

Question 30

AIDS now affects _____________ in Africa more than ________________.

A) Whites, natives.
B) Children, adults.
C) Homosexuals, heterosexuals.
D) Men, women.
E) Women, men.

Question 31

Prevalence rates, when expressed as point prevalence, period prevalence, or lifetime prevalence, vary based on the disease being measured.

Question 32

Developing nations are typically characterized by a high birth rate and a high death rate, with a relatively young population.

Question 33

Which term describes an individual's most important position in society and typically comes from one's occupation?

A) Default status.
B) Ordinary status.
C) Master status.
D) Primary status.
E) Main status.

Question 34

___________ appears to be a major channel for AIDS transmission in India.

A) Marijuana use.
B) Mother to child transmission.
C) Prostitution.
D) Improper sanitation.
E) Overcrowding.

Question 35

Which of the following best describes influenza pandemics?

A) They occur frequently but the threat to worldwide health is minimal.
B) They have been mostly eliminated due to the development of vaccines such as Tamiflu.
C) They are easily contained to the region of outbreak.
D) They are unpredictable and occur at irregular intervals.
E) None of the above.

Question 36

The bubonic plague was ended in 1750 with the development of penicillin.

Question 37

Which of the following demonstrates the sociological implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic?

A) Its influence on modifying social norms, values, and lifestyles.
B) How certain social behaviors lead to the transmission of the disease and result in a pandemic.
C) The social rejection of AIDS patients.
D) Moral and religious debates over the meaning of the disease and treatment options.
E) All of the above.

Question 38

The simplest ratio computed by the epidemiologist is called the crude rate.

Question 39

Present-day epidemiologists primarily study epidemic diseases and give little attention to other diseases such as chronic ailments or unhealthy behaviors.

Question 40

The living conditions of early nomadic humans, with close proximity to others and exploration of new environments, was favorable to widespread and frequent epidemics.

Question 41

In states like Mississippi and North Carolina, more black women than white men have contracted HIV.

Question 42

People most at risk for developing AIDS are those who have had multiple sex partners and know little about their partners' past sexual behavior.

Question 43

About twice as many males die from heart disease as females, and men are more likely than women to have a worse prognosis if they survive the first serious heart attack.

Question 44

Pandemics are regional or local outbreaks of a disease and rarely happen.

Question 45

Describe the four eras of epidemiology.

Question 46

HIV/AIDS first appeared in intravenous drug users in New York and San Francisco.

Question 47

Modification in what four lifestyle areas significantly reduce the risk of heart disease? Discuss how and why these modifications affect the risk of developing heart disease.

Question 48

AIDS potentially entered the U.S. through Haiti.

Question 49

Much of the fear about AIDS arises from the fact that many people who carry the virus are not aware of it.

Question 50

Define incidence and prevalence. Explain the relationship between the two, and identify which issues with each pertain when examining chronic and acute illnesses.

Question 51

Smoking is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in the United States and quitting smoking nearly eliminates this risk after a year or two.

Question 52

Recognition that germs were causal agents of disease served as a precursor to scientific findings that people come into contact with a variety of causal agents. Define all five agents, and provide examples of each type.

Question 53

Estimating the number of individual flu cases in an outbreak is an easy task, since almost everyone who becomes sick with the flu requires medical care.

Question 54

Developing and developed nations have a different pattern of disease and illness. List the most prevalent diseases in both nation types, and discuss why these differences exist.