Emerging role of epidemiologic literacy

Abstract

Background: The ability to understand and apply epidemiology methods is a growing part of pharmacy practice, pharmacy accreditation standards, and evidence-based practice.

Objective: To examine the trends in epidemiology-related terminology used in the literature over the past 20 years.

Methods: The frequency of the use of epidemiology-related terminology in 3 representative pharmacy journals, 2 representative medical journals, and 1 public health journal from January through December 1984, 1994, and 2004 was recorded. The 3 pharmacy journals were the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (formerly American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy), The Annals of Pharmacotherapy (formerly Drug Intelligence and Clinical Pharmacy), and Pharmacotherapy. The 2 medical journals were the New England Journal of Medicine and The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and the public health journal was the American Journal of Public Health. The number of times an epidemiology-related term was used was summed for each year and each journal.

Results: For all the journals examined in this study combined, the proportion of epidemiologic terms used in the literature has increased over the past 20 years. In 1984, of the total articles published in the 6 journals, 7.02% contained epidemiologic terms increasing to 12.27% and 15.46% in 1994 and 2004, respectively. The most dramatic differences in the 20-year comparisons were noted for Pharmacotherapy (0 to 17.75%) and JAMA (7.32 to 26.72%).

Conclusions: The increase in the use of epidemiology-related terms has implications for both curricular planning in schools and colleges of pharmacy, as well as for continuing education programs and effective interprofessional communication.