Upon completion of this seminar the students should be able to describe
- principles of disease surveillance in the community.
- the most prevalent conditions
- the role of a health agency in intervening to prevent or delay onset of, or provide early intervention to reduce, deteriorating health status of various population groups.
- Purposes of surveillance to detect onset of acute infectious disease
- The capability to estimate changes in in incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases.
- Competencies: 1A(1-4,9) 1C(1,3,4,8,10) 1D(2,8) IIA (1,4,7)
Key Words
Community Surveys, Passive & Active surveillance, Chronic Diseases, Environmental Hazards, Denominator data, Numerator data, Prevalence, Incidence, and examples of epidemiologic investigations.
Concept
Chronic non-infectious diseases are as amenable to epidemiologic evaluation and intervention as acute communicable disease. Both types of disease require use of surveillance.
References
Smoking Trends from the BMJ
Case Definition from the CDC Look at some of the definitions to get a feel for the scope, particularly infectious diseases.
The Cochrane Library is being used increasingly by those interested in Surveillance. It is in many respects the Gold Standard for surveillance methods. It has started a Health Promotion and Public Health section which those of you, interested in the topic, may want to review
Screening review from the USPSTF look at some of the recommendations for screening from this page.
A public health Surveillance Tool Kit
Division of Public Heath Surveillance and Information, in particular look at the case definitions.
National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) How does this relate to the State surveillance system?
Epidemic Intelligence Service EIS Dr. Tipple is a senior EIS officer
CDC's Epidemiology Program Office Get a feel for the information available here.
WHO's Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response. How do you think this relates to the CDC programs.
CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) To add to what Dr. Wolard tells you about BRFSS.
Those of you with an interest in Cancer Epidemiology might want to look at the Maps available from the NCI Remember Jeff's lecture about the increased use of GIS in Public Health.
Reading:
Schneider, 2nd Edn pp 61-67, pp 121-131
Scan:
The Dissappearing Autopsy Why do you think I included this?
Screening for Breast Cancer. With all you hear about the NHS from posturing US politicians, what does this tell us about quality in the UK?
Planned Surveillance of Diabetes in NY City: Review this policy evaluation from Science (July14. 2006) and be prepared to discuss whether you believe it would work in New York. Would it work in Virginia? What would the two sparring political parties say about it in relation to Health Care Reform?
Go to PowerPoint Presentation ( pdf file ) Handouts
An additional Slide Show from McGill University in Canada [handouts]
Recent Surveillance Study from JAMA (On HPV)