The descriptive epidemiology paper should focus on the epidemiology of a specific outcome variable (disease or possibly a health problem) that impacts a population. Your topic should be selected as part of the Week Four Intervention Studies and Final Topic Selection discussion. Examples of acceptable topics include a communicable or infectious disease, a chronic disease or condition such as one of the leading causes of mortality in the United States, or a disease or condition that is of personal interest to the student. Note that this assignment should not give extensive clinical information about a health condition, but should provide a data-based focus on its distribution in the population. Your chosen topic should be defined as narrowly as possible, for example, hepatitis C. Avoid a broad topic such as stress and health or heart disease.
The Descriptive Epidemiology of a Selected Health Problem Paper
- Should describe
- the extent of the problem (e.g., mortality, morbidity, or economic impact);
- the agent of disease (e.g., bacterium, virus, or other agent);
- the physical condition (briefly describe the clinical symptoms);
- the mechanisms that are used to control the problem or spread of disease;
- the host factors that make people vulnerable to the problem (e.g., race, sex, gender, age, nativity, and marital status);
- the environmental factors (e.g., geographic location) and socioeconomic factors (e.g., income, housing, occupation, education, family structure, and cultural background) that make people vulnerable to the problem;
- the problem’s temporal variation (seasonal trends, cyclic, epidemic, endemic, or pandemic);
- the additional epidemiologic variables that pertain to your topic,
- and the gaps in knowledge about the disease (e.g., reporting gaps and insufficient knowledge of the disease). Has previous research failed to address any pressing issues regarding the disease or problem in question?
- Should also include:
- A list of transmission modes (if caused by an infectious agent);
- a summary of any current hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the observed distribution or problem;
- identification of any existing and/or proposed policies to address the issue or health problem;
- a discussion of the significance and implications of the policies identified above,
- suggested areas for further epidemiologic research.
- Must include an introduction and conclusion(Links to an external site.)
- Must be 6 to 10 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style
