Epidemiology in Community Health Nursing

EPIDEMIOLOGY IN
COMMUNITY HEALTH
NURSING
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 The students will be able to:

 Define epidemiology
 State the approaches of epidemiology
 Mention about the epidemiological triad
 Describe the agent, host and environmental
fact ors of epidemiological triad
INTRODUCTION
 Classically speaking
 Epi = upon/ among
 Demos = people
 Ology = science or study
 Epidemiology = the science which deals with what falls upon people…..
 Bridge between biomedical, social and behavioral sciences
EPIDEMIOLOGY
 DEFINITION
 The study of the distribution and determinants
of health related states or events in a specified
populations, and the application of this study
to prevent and control of health problems
- John M
Last(1988)
 It’sthe study of the cause and effect of
diseases
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL APPROACH
 The epidemiological approach to problems of

health and disease is based on two major
foundations.
 Another alternative is standardization which
usually has a limited application to a few
characteristics such as age, sex, and parity.
 The first requirement is therefore definition of
what is to be measured and establishment of
criteria or standards by which it can be measured
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL APPROACH
Asking Making
Questions comparisons
Epidemiology has been defined as “a
means of learning or asking questions…
and getting answers that lead to
further questions”. For example the
following questions could be asked.
1 . Related to Health Events
2 . Related to Health Action
HEALTH EVENTS
-What is the
event?(the problem)
- What is its
magnitude?
- Where did it
happen?
- When did
it happen?
- Who are
affected?
- Why
did it
happen?
HEALTH ACTION
What can be done to reduce this problem and its

consequences?
How can it be prevented in the future?
What action should be taken by the community? By the health

services? By other sectors? Where and for whom these activities
be carried out?
What resources are required? How are the activities to be

organized?
What difficulties may arise, and how might they be overcome?

MAKING COMPARISONS
 The basic approach in epidemiology is to make
comparisons and draw inferences
 This may be comparison of two (or more groups)- one
group having the disease ( or exposed to risk factor) and
the other groups not having the disease (or not exposed to
risk factor) or comparison between individuals.
 By making comparisons, the epidemiologist ties to find out
the crucial differences in the host and environmental
factors between those affected and not affected.
 In short epidemiologist weighs, balances and contrasts.
 Clues to etiology come from such comparisons.
 One of the first considerations beore making comparisons
is to ensure what is known as “comparability” between
the study and control groups which means both the groups
should be similar so that ‘like can be compared with like’.
 For facts to be comparable, they must be accurate and
they must be gathered in a uniform way.
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL TRIAD
 Diseaseresults from a complex interaction
between man, an agent (or cause of
disease) and the environment.
 Theterm epidemiological triad is a key
concept in epidemiology.
 Each disease has its own unique natural
history of causes, which is not necessarily
the same in all individuals.
ENVIRONMENT
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL
TRAID
AGENT HOST
AGENT FACTORS
 The first link in the chain of disease transmission
is a disease agent.
 Thedisease agent is defined as a substance, living
or non-living or a force, tangible or intangible,
the excessive presence or relative lack of which
may initiate or perpetuate a disease process
A disease may have a single agent, a number of
independent alternative agents or a complex of
two or more facts whose combined presence is
essential for the development of the disease
 BIOLOGICAL AGENTS: These are living agents of
disease. viz, viruses, rickettsia, fungi, bacteria,
protozoa and metazoa. These agents having
certain biological properties such as Infectivity,
pathogenecity and virulence
 Infectivity
is the ability of an infectious agent to
invade and multiply in a host
 Pathogenecity is the ability to induce clinically
apparent illness
 Virulence is the proportion of clinical cases
resulting in severe clinical manifestations
 NUTRIENT AGENTS: These are proteins, fats, carbohydrates,
vitamins, minerals and water. Any excess or deficiency of the
intake of nutritive elements may result in nutritional
disorders. Protein Energy Malnutrition, Anaemia, Goitre,
Obesity and Vitamin deficiencies are the some of the current
nutritional problems.
 PHYSICAL AGENTS :Exposure to excessive heat, cold, humidity,
pressure, radiation, electricity, sound etc may result in
illnessbe (i) Chemical Factors eg. Hormones (ii) Nutrient
factors (iii) Lack of structure (iv) Lack of part of structure ( v )
 Chromosal factors (vi) Immunological factors
 SOCIAL AGENTS: It is also necessary to consider social agents of
disease. These are poverty, smoking, abuse of drugs and
alcohol, unhealthy lifestyles, social isolation, matenal
deprivation etc.
HOST FACTORS
 The human host is referred to as “soil” and the

disease agent as “seed”.
 In some situations, host factors play a major role
in determining the outcome of an individual’s
exposure to infection. Eg. Tuberculosis
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
 The external or macro environment is defined as all that

which is external to the individual human host, living and
non-living, and with which he is in constant interaction.
This includes all of man’s external surroundings such as
air, water, food housing, etc.
 For human beings the environment is not limited, as it
normally is for plants and animals, to a set of climatic
factors
PHYSICAL
ENVIRONMENT
BIOLOGICAL
ENVIRONMENT
PSYCHO SOCIAL
ENVIRONMENT
 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: Its apply to non living things and Physical factors
such as Air,Water,Soil,Housing Etc With Which man is in constant interaction.
 Man has altered practically every thing in his physical environment to is
advantage which has created new health problems such as air, water & noise
pollution, Urbanization and Radiation hazards.
 BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT: It’s the universe of living things which surrounds
man including man himself the living things are the viruses, and other
microbial agents, insects, rodents, animals and plants
 For the most part, the parties manage to effect a harmonious inter-
relationship, to achieve a state of peaceful co-existence, even though this
may not be always enduring. When for any reason this harmonious
relationship is disturbed, ill health results
 PSYCHO SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT: It includes a complex of psycho social factors
which are defined as “those factors affecting personal health, health care and
community, well-being that stem from the psychosocial make-up of
individuals and the structures and functions of social groups”,
 They include cultural values, customs, habits, beliefs, attitudes, morals,
religion, education, life styles, community life, health services, social and
political organization.
 The impact of social environment has both positive and negative aspects on
the health of individuals and communities.
 A favourable social environment can improve health, provide opportunities for
man to achieve a sense of fulfilment, and add to the quality of life.
 It can also affect negatively man’s health and well-being. For eg, poverty,
urbanisation, migration, loss of employment etc may produce feelings of
anxiety, depression, anger which may affect the physical health manifested
by physical symptoms like headache, palpitations and sweating.
 SUMMARY
 Man today is viewed as an agent of his own diseases, his

state of health is determined more by what he does to
himself than what some outside germ or infectious agent
does to him.
 The epidemiologist are so much concerned with psychosocial
environment as with physical or biological environment in
search of etiological causes of disease

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EPIDEMIOLOGY IN

 The students will be able to:

 The epidemiological approach to problems of

What can be done to reduce this problem and its

How can it be prevented in the future?

What action should be taken by the community? By the health

What resources are required? How are the activities to be

What difficulties may arise, and how might they be overcome?

 The human host is referred to as “soil” and the

 The external or macro environment is defined as all that

 Man today is viewed as an agent of his own diseases, his

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