EPIDEMIOLOGY

Historical development of epidemiology. Definition and objectives of epistemology. Stages of the historical development of epidemiology in the world. Development of epidemiology in Croatia. Conceptual definition of epidemiology, epidemic, endemic, pandemic. The most important objectives of epidemiology.

The most important branches of epidemiology. Genetic epidemiology. Molecular epidemiology. Pharmacoepidemiology. Clinical epidemiology. Field epidemiology.

Fundamentals of research and application of epidemiological methods. Components of epidemiological research. Observational epidemiology. Experimental epidemiology. Descriptive epidemiology. Analytic epidemiology.

Causality. Risk factor. Cause. Causality criteria.

Types of samples and sampling. Total population. Target population. Representativeness. Probability sampling. Convenience sampling. Simple random sampling. Stratified random sampling. Cluster sampling. Systematic sampling.

Questionnaire – data-collecting instrument. Standard questionnaire. Steps in developing a new questionnaire. Questionnaires filled in by respondents themselves. Questionnaires in which respondents answer the questions asked by researchers. Characteristics of a good questionnaire.

Epidemiological measures and measuring incidence in a population. Absolute numbers. Relative numbers – proportion, ratio, rate. Frequency measures – morbidity and mortality measures. Measures of association – relative risk, attributable risk, odds ratio, prevalence ratio. Measures of potential impact – population attributable fraction, preventable fraction for the population.

Descriptive epidemiology. Definition and objectives of descriptive epistemology. Person. Place. Time.

Disease prevention. Primary prevention. Secondary prevention. Tertiary prevention. Vogralik's chain. Primary prevention of communicable diseases. Secondary prevention of communicable diseases. Prevention of non-communicable diseases.

Cohort studies. Cohorts in epidemiology. Course of a cohort study. Closed cohort. Open cohort. Retrospective cohort study. Prospective cohort study. Course of a prospective and retrospective cohort study. Incidence measures (cumulative incidence, incidence rate) and measures of association (relative risk, attributable risk) in cohort studies. Temporal design of cohort studies. Scope of application of cohort studies. Advantages and disadvantages of cohort studies. Longitudinal studies. Nested case studies and case-control studies.

Epidemiological indicators of health status. Age distribution. Natality, mortality and natural change rates. Infant mortality rate and perinatal mortality. Proportional mortality, cause-specific mortality and disease-specific mortality. Communicable diseases: reporting and vaccination.

Systematic epidemiological monitoring of population health. Data collection. Systematic monitoring of population health. Epidemiological registries. Population health surveys.

Experimental epidemiology. Randomised controlled clinical trial. Controlled field trial. Community trial.

Case studies and case-control studies. Course of case studies and case-control studies. Selection of respondents for a case group. Selection of respondents for a control group. Methods for minimising confounding – matching and restriction. Sources of exposure data. Measures of association in case studies and case-control studies – odds ratio – definition and interpretation. Temporal design of case studies and case-control studies. Advantages and disadvantages of case studies and case-control studies.

Cross-sectional studies. Point prevalence. Period prevalence. Course of a cross-sectional study. Prevalence ratio (PR). Prevalence odds ratio (POR). Interpretation of PR and POR. Temporal design of a cross-sectional study. Data collection in cross-sectional studies. Scope of application of cross-sectional studies. Advantages and disadvantages of cross-sectional studies.

Diagnostic tests and screening tests. Diagnostic tests. Screening tests. Test accuracy or validity. Test reliability or precision. Test sensitivity. Test specificity. Positive predictive value of diagnostic tests. Negative predictive value of diagnostic tests. Screening.

International health. Conceptual definition of international health. Most important facts about world health statistics.

Ethical principles in epidemiological research. Basic ethical principles in research. Informed consent. Data privacy and confidentiality. Conflict of interest. Ethical principles in research involving children as research subjects. Tasks of Ethics Committees.