Epidemiology Morbidity And Mortality

Excerpt

From an etymological perspective, the word “epidemiology” can be divided into the Greek roots “epi,” “demos,” and “logos,” which respectively mean “upon,” “people,” and “the study of.” Historically, epidemiology has focused on population-level factors regarding communicable infectious diseases, but it has evolved to include non-communicable infectious diseases, chronic diseases, infant health, and environmental and behavioral health. Today, it is a wide-encapsulating umbrella that encompasses any health-related issues that may influence the overall health of a population, such as environmental exposures, injuries, natural disasters, and terrorism, to name a few. It is a multifaceted branch of medicine, fundamentally guided by systematic scientific inquiry via ratios, probabilities, and other statistical calculations, focusing on the incidence, distribution, and factors concerning diseases and health outcomes within a specific population.