Health Risks Determined by Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health related states or events in well-defined populations. The goal of epidemiology is to understand the causes of disease variation and limit disease, injury and death in a community by intervening to prevent or limit outbreaks or epidemics of disease and injury. Epidemiology provides the most compelling evidence for measuring environmental risk to humans. Epidemiologists are public health professionals who investigate occurrence of disease-or other health related conditions or events in specific populations. Epidemiology allows public health workers to organize, analyze & interpret statistical facts about health problems. The basic design strategies applied in epidemiological research can be generally categorized according to whether such investigations focus on reporting the distributions of disease or elucidating its determinants. All study designs involve descriptive and analytical type of comparison of exposure and disease status. Descriptive epidemiology focuses on the general characteristics of the distribution of a disease. Analytical epidemiology focuses on the determinants of a disease by testing the hypothesis formulated from descriptive studies to check whether a particular exposure causes or prevents disease.

Lyme disease is the most common systematic, bacterial, tick-borne disease with symptoms that include severe headache, rash, arthritis, fever,joint aches, and cardiac abnormalities. The journal article, “Lyme Disease In Outdoor Workers: Risk Factors, Preventive Measures, And Tick Removal Methods” has written by Brian S. Schwartz and Michael D. Goldstein. The article depicts a statewide cross-sectional case study of risk factors of seropositivity...

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...cks on the job. The elevated risk associated with gasoline needs further evaluation. Tick removal method was a risk factor for Lyme disease in this study. Hunting was found to be related with an increased risk of Lyme disease seropostivity. Close contact with deer carcasses infested with ticks may cause Lyme disease but requires further investigation. In conclusion, occupational exposure to ticks was associated with an increased risk of Lyme disease seropositivity in outdoor workers after control for multiple confounding variables. Personal preventive practices play essential role in Lyme disease prevention such as wearing long-sleeves and avoiding contact with tick exposure areas. The insect repellent use and prophylactic antibiotics should be assessed for clinical trials. This study was well designed to find risk factors for Lyme disease in outdoor workers.