EPIDEMIOLOGY & POPULATION HEALTH
MEASURES AND MEASUREMENT ERROR IN POPULATION RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION
Effective population health promotion and program planning efforts depend upon several factors. These include how often, where, under what conditions, and among whom disease occurs. These are all quantitative measures. When conducting your own research or interpreting the results of another study, you should be familiar with the appropriate use of various epidemiologic measures and sources of measurement error.
What’s Happening This Module?
Module 3: Measures and Measurement Error in Population Research is a 2-week module comprising Weeks 5 and 6 of the course. In Week 5, you’ll be introduced to epidemiologic measures such as odds ratio and risk ratio, mortality and morbidity, and incidence and prevalence, and how these measures can be used to support nursing practice. In Week 6, you will examine sources of error in population research and their implications for nursing practice.
EPIDEMIOLOGIC MEASURES USED IN POPULATION HEALTH
In an effort to reduce costs, the city of Flint, Michigan switched sources for its water supply, in 2014, from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River (Kennedy, 2016). Less than a month after the switch, residents began complaining about the color, taste, and smell of the water; 10 months later, the first case of elevated lead levels in drinking water were found in a resident’s home. The city had not tested the Flint River water prior to the switch to see if it had a corrosive effect on the system’s aging lead pipes, resulting in a disastrous public health crisis and state of emergency for Flint. The incidence of elevated blood lead levels in children under the age of 5 increased from 2.4% before the supply switch to 4.9% after, with some neighborhoods experiencing much higher increases (Hanna-Attisha et al., 2016). As demonstrated by this example, researchers can determine the level of exposure by comparing rates of incidence before and after the change. This can inform later research on risk and effects and lead to development of interventions for the affected population.
This week, you will continue to examine the association between risk factors and the etiology of disease by investigating measures of morbidity and mortality and measures of effect (incidence, prevalence, risk ratio/relative risk, and odds ratio). You will also consider how nurses use epidemiologic measures to make informed healthcare practice decisions.
References:
Hanna-Attisha, M., LaChance, J., Sadler, R. C., & Schnepp, A. C. (2016). Elevated blood lead levels in children associated with the Flint drinking water crisis: A spatial analysis of risk and public health response . American Journal of Public Health, 106(2), 283–290. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.303003
Kennedy, M. (2016, April 20). Lead-laced water in Flint: A step-by-step look at the makings of a crisis. The Two-Way. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-makings-of-a-crisis
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
· Analyze how measures of effect strengthen and support nursing practice
· Assess practice limitations of not applying measures of effect to support nursing practice
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