Deck 7: Describing Health Conditions: Understanding and Using Rates

Question 1

A public health nurse is curious if there has been an increase in the need for hospitalization among reported influenza cases. Which factor should the nurse prioritize for researching to answer this query?

A) Rate
B) Ratio
C) Relative risk ratio
D) Sensitivity

Answer 1

Rate

Question 2

A group of nurses are compiling information for a report on the recent Salmonella outbreak for their state. Which formula will best assist with determining the rate?

A)
B)
C)
D)

Answer 2

Question 3

The nurses at a local Women's, Infant's, and Children clinic are compiling a state report for the past year. Which equation should the nurses prioritize to achieve an accurate infant mortality rate?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The nursing instructor is guiding a class of nursing students through the process of determining the various rates used in epidemiologic studies. Which response from the students will indicate to the instructor they correctly grasp the concept of an adjusted rate?

A) Statistical procedure that removes the effects of differences in the composition of a population, such as age, when comparing one with another
B) Measure of the probability that people without a certain condition will develop that condition over a period of time
C) Measure of the number of people in a given population who have an existing condition at a given point in time
D) Detailed rates that are calculated using the number of people in the smaller subgroups of the population in the denominator

Question 5

A nurse is concerned there has been an increase in the number of influenza cases in the county over the past year when compared with last year. Which rate will best provide the answer to this nurse?

A) Adjusted
B) Incidence
C) Prevalence
D) Specific

Question 6

The nurse is measuring the occurrence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease being investigated in the entire population. Which rate is this nurse developing with this action?

A) Adjusted
B) Attack
C) Crude
D) Incidence

Question 7

The nurse wishes to compare the number of persons aged 40 to 49 years who die each year with the mid-year population of persons in this age range, per 100,000 population. Which type of rate is the nurse attempting to calculate?

A) Adjusted
B) Incidence
C) Prevalence
D) Specific

Question 8

The nurse wishes to determine how many people in the city die from myocardial infarctions each year per 100,000 population. Which type of rate will the nurse establish in this process?

A) Age-specific mortality rate
B) Cause-specific mortality rate
C) Case fatality rate
D) Crude mortality rate

Question 9

A nursing student is examining an epidemiologic report for a class project. Which explanation should the student conclude will best define sensitivity?

A) The ratio of the incidence rate in the exposed group to the incidence rate in the nonexposed group
B) Ability of a test to correctly identify people who have a health problem or the probability of testing positive if the health problem is truly present
C) Variations measured in hours, days, weeks, or months and commonly used to quantify outbreaks of infectious disease
D) Ability of a test to correctly identify people who do not have a health problem or the probability of testing negative if the health problem is truly absent

Question 10

A nursing student is preparing a research paper for a class which will present the results of her investigation into the number of SIDS cases in her state versus the United States. Which formula should the student prioritize to calculate sensitivity?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

Question 11

The nurse wishes to measure the number of cases of staph infections that occur in a hospital over the course of 1 year per total client days during that year. Which measure should the nurse prioritize?

A) Incidence density
B) Prevalence rate
C) Relative risk ratio
D) Specific rate

Question 12

A public health nurse is preparing a report which compares the incident rate of farm workers who are exposed to pesticides with individuals who are not exposed to the pesticides. Which factor is this nurse measuring with this information?

A) Incidence density
B) Prevalence rate
C) Relative risk ratio
D) Specific rate

Question 13

The nurse wishes to calculate the probability of persons in the county developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease over the course of a year. Which measure will be best for the nurse to utilize?

A) Incidence density
B) Incidence rate
C) Relative risk ratio
D) Specific rate

Question 14

The public health nurse has recently relocated to an underserved area and notes the data are out of date. Which formula will be best for the nurse to utilize to calculate the fetal mortality rate of this community?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

Question 15

The public health nurse is working with a committee to develop a healthcare clinic for a growing group of refugees. When gathering data to determine the needed statistics, which formula will present the most accurate perinatal morality rate?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

Question 16

Over the course of a year, there were 42 cases of institution-associated pneumonia at a hospital. During that time, 3,102 clients were at risk for acquiring this infection, with 20,411 client days. Which is the crude incidence rate of institution-associated pneumonia at this hospital?

A) 0.21%
B) 1.35%
C) 1.52%
D) 15.20%

Question 17

Over the course of a year, there were 67 cases of institution-associated pneumonia at a hospital. During that time, 4,876 clients were at risk for acquiring this infection, covering a total of 35,125 client days. Which is the client density in terms of number of cases per 1,000 client days at this hospital during this time?

A) 1.9
B) 1.37
C) 13.74
D) 190

Question 18

In reviewing a study that considered the sensitivity of a particular screening test for HIV, the nurse found 21 true positives, 853 true negatives, 3 false positives, and 5 false negatives. What is the sensitivity of this test?

A) 80.8%
B) 87.5%
C) 93.7%
D) 99.6%

Question 19

City A has a population of people who are exposed to HIV, whereas City B has a population of people who are considered nonexposed to HIV. There were 3,267 new HIV cases in a given year for City A, with a population (exposed) of 10,000,000. There were only 5 new HIV cases in the same year for City B, with a population (nonexposed) of 150,000. Which is the attributable risk of HIV occurring in City A in terms of cases per 100,000 population?

A) 3.33
B) 13.55
C) 29.34
D) 32.67

Question 20

The nurse is maintaining a graph which depicts the distribution of influenza cases by the time of onset of influenza. Which factor is this nurse creating with this graph?

A) Epidemic curve
B) Epidemiologic descriptive study
C) Incidence density
D) Incidence rate

Question 21

The nurse is conducting research on the relative risk of acquiring lung cancer as a result of being exposed to secondhand smoke. The nurse is studying two different groups. Group A includes 400 adults who do not smoke but are exposed to secondhand smoke in their home on a daily basis. Group B includes 400 adults who do not smoke and are not exposed to secondhand smoke in their home. Over the course of 10 years, 20 subjects in Group A are diagnosed with lung cancer, whereas only 2 subjects in Group B are diagnosed with lung cancer. Which is the relative risk ratio that would result from this study?

A) 0.5
B) 1
C) 5
D) 10