Public Health and Epidemiology at a Glance

Public Health and Epidemiology at a Glance is a highly visual introduction to the key concepts and major themes of population health. With comprehensive coverage of all the core topics covered at medical school, it helps students understand the determinants of health and their study, from personal lifestyle choices and behaviour, to environmental, social and economic factors.

This fully updated new edition features:
• More coverage of audit and quality improvement techniques
• Brand new sections on maternal and child health, and health of older people
• New chapters on social determinants of health and guideline development
• Expanded self-assessment material

This accessible guide is an invaluable resource for medical and healthcare students, junior doctors, and those preparing for a career in epidemiology and public health.

Contents

Preface to the Second Edition

Acknowledgements

About the authors

1. Introduction to Public Health

2. Public Health Old and New

3. Incidence and prevalence

4. Risks and Odds

5. Hierarchy of evidence and investigating causation

6. Bias, confounding and chance in epidemiological studies

7. Standardisation

8. Ecological and cross-sectional studies

9. Case-control studies

10. Cohort studies

11. Trials (experimental studies)

12. Systematic reviews and meta-analysis

13. Diagnostic tests

14. Developing Guidelines

15. Health and illness

16. Demographic and epidemiological transitions

17. Health Information

18. Measuring population health status

19. Determinants of Health

20. Lifestyle determinants of health

21. Social determination of health

22. Environmental determinants of health

23. Inequalities in health

24. Health needs assessment

25. Maternal and Infant health

26. Health of older people

27. Disease prevention

28. Principles of disease transmission

29. Communicable disease control

30. Surveillance

31. Immunisation

32. Screening principles

33. Screening programmes

34. Health promotion

35. Changing behaviour

36. Economic perspectives on health

37. Economic evaluation

38. Economic perspectives on measuring health-related outcomes

39. Economics of public health problems

40. Health care systems

41. Planning health services

42. Improving services

43. Health care evaluation

Self-Assessment

Self-assessment Questions

Self-assessment Answers

Appendix- Practical issues in conducting epidemiological studies

Further reading

Index

Margaret Somerville is Director of Public Health and Health Policy at NHS Highland. Previously she was Senior Lecturer and Director of Public Health Learning in the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.

Kumaran Kalyanaraman is Clinical Scientist and Senior Lecturer, MRC Life course Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton Medical School.

Rob Anderson is Associate Professor of Health Economics and Evaluation at the University of Exeter Medical School.