tailieunhanh - Epidemiology in gynecological diseases

This chapter will help you to plan preventive measures to control gynecological diseases in your occur at random. They occur in specific groups of area. This chapter will explain how to assess the need for such measures in your area and how to collect data on gynecological diseases in order to set priorities and discuss these priorities with policy makers. | 33 Epidemiology in Gynecological Diseases Sisty J. Moshi INTRODUCTION This chapter will help you to plan preventive measures to control gynecological diseases in your area. The preceding chapters have talked about specific preventive measures and risk factors for each disease. This chapter will explain how to assess the need for such measures in your area and how to collect data on gynecological diseases in order to set priorities and discuss these priorities with policy makers. Furthermore this chapter will help you to better understand scientific literature on gynecological diseases by explaining statistical terms that are most commonly used. BASIC EPIDEMIOLOGY Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in a specified population and the application of this study in the control of a health problem1. History traces epidemiology back to 500BC when Hippocrates wrote his book named On Airs Waters and Places . In this book there was a chapter on environmental influences on health. This chapter mentioned that weather hot cold and winds water quality contamination drinking and eating habits behavior indolence exercise and labor have influence on disease occurrence. Thus Hippocrates concluded that disease does not just happen. There were several assumptions but all meant that diseases or other health events do not occur at random instead they occur in specific populations exposed in a particular way at risk . Also he assumed that diseases have causal relationships with some risk factors and so preventive measures can be identified. Therefore researchers investigate these factors and apply the knowledge to control disease. Diseases or other health-related events do not occur at random. They occur in specific groups of people exposed in a particular way at risk to a condition environment that causes the disease in question. All diseases have cause s . Also all diseases have preventive factors that can be identified. The