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Introduction
Descriptive epidemiology is a field of study that aims to provide answers to questions concerning a particular disease, injury, as well as the occurrence of environmental hazards. The field answers five key questions that help explain the nature of a condition, its scope, the time and place of its occurrence, and the affected population.
Discussion
The first question (what?) is being answered by describing a disease or health condition, which allows for the characterization of cases. Besides, numeric values are often used for characterizing health events because a well-developed analytical table is organized in such a way as to help understand data better. The second question (how much?) determines how many cases of health problem occurs in the population of interest. The count of prevalence cases can be compared to their historical norm or another expected value. The third question (when?) helps gather information on the onset time of the disease or health condition, which is an essential statistic for exploring patterns. In addition, it is necessary to note the times of suspected exposure to infections, which can vary significantly from one individual to another. The fourth question (where?) allows for determining distance associations of cases because their close occurrence may speak to the potential infectiousness of the disease (Fontaine, 2018). The information regarding the location of the disease may include the place of residence of affected persons, sites of work and recreation, and other relevant onsets.
Conclusion
The fifth and final question (among whom?) allows for recognizing disease patterns through distinct individual attributes, which include age, sex, socioeconomic status, immunization status, and various others. Such information is necessary for identifying various qualifications for personal data assessments.
Reference
Fontaine, R. E. (2018). Describing epidemiologic data. Web.
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