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Epidemiology Chapter 4 Cheat Sheet by

There was once a time when the fundamental necessities weren't as readily available. Food, water, and shelter were all subject to disease. In the past, epidemiology's primary focus consisted of finding pathogens to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases. However, much progress has been made to reduce the spread of diseases with antibiotics and immunizations. Since then, chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and respiratory diseases are more prominent and are now the primary focus.

Chronic disease epidem­iology defini­tions

Multif­act­orial Etiology- Various factors that cause disease.
Latency Period- The time between exposure of a risk factor and the onset of symptoms.
Physical Stresses- Excessive heat/cold, radiation, housing, workplace injuries and climate change.
Risk Factor- Behaviors, enviro­nmental exposure, or inherent human charac­ter­istic that increases the likelihood of an adverse health outcome.

Risk factors and Enviro­nment

Enviro­nmental risk factors include: Allergens, asbsetos, arsenic, noise, radiation, and smoke.
Physical, Chemical, and Biological enviro­nment risk factors include: Worksite exposures, enviro­nment exposures, poverty, low educat­ional level, smoking, alcohol use, nutrit­ion­/diet, congenital anomalies, and develo­pmental defects.
Inhala­tion- Breathing radioa­ctive chemicals into the lungs.
Ingestion- Swallowing radioa­ctive material.
Direct- External exposure.

Radiation public­ation

“NCRP Report 160 | NCRP | Bethesda, MD.” Ncrpon­lin­e.org, ncrpon­lin­e.o­rg/­pub­lic­ati­ons­/re­por­ts/­ncr­p-r­epo­rt-­160-2/.

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Chemicals in the air

The above image shows the lead concen­tration trend in the U.S.

Office, EPA. “Air Quality Trends Show Clean Air Progress.” Epa.gov, 2020, gispub.ep­a.g­ov/­air­/tr­end­sre­por­t/2­020­/#a­ir_­tox­ics­_tr­ends. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.

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Lead and health

Although, the trend of lead exposure has decreased, the severity of lead remains severe. Lead can be ingested through food, soil, water, and dust.
Conseq­uences from lead exposure include damage to organs, osteop­orosis, seizures, mental retard­ation and more.
Lead exposure has been found in lead paint and leaded gasoline. Now are both banned in the U.S. and conseq­uently, blood lead levels lowered.

Defini­tions

Toxico­kin­etic: The study of how a chemical substance and the process it undergoes when inside the body.
Biotra­nsf­orm­ation: The change of a chemical within the body.
 

Definition

Biologic agent:a living organism, such as viruses, bacteria, toxins, or parasites, that can cause disease in humans, animals, or plants.

Virus and Cancer relati­onship

Virus examples: human papill­oma­viruses (HPV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), Epstei­n–Barr virus (EBV), Kaposi’s sarcom­a-a­sso­ciated herpes­virus (KSHV) (also called human herpes­virus 8), human T-cell lympho­tropic virus (HTLV-1), and Merkel cell polyom­avirus (MCPyV).
Cancer examples: Burkitt's lymphoma, liver cancer, Adult T-cell leukemia, Kaposi's sarcoma, and cancer of the cervix, anus, penis, vagina, vulva and oropha­rnyx.

Virus and Cancer relati­onship article

Schiller, John T., and Douglas R. Lowy. “An Introd­uction to Virus Infections and Human Cancer.” Viruses and Human Cancer, vol. 217, 18 Nov. 2020, pp. 1–11, https:­//d­oi.o­rg­/10.10­07/­978­-3-­030­-57­362­-1_1.

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Virus and Cancer relati­onship chart

The above image illust­rates cancers that have a strong associ­ation with certain viruses.


“Table - PMC.” Nih.gov, 2021, pmc.nc­bi.n­lm.ni­h.g­ov/­art­icl­es/­PMC­833­678­2/t­abl­e/T2/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.

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Behavior and diet with chronic disease.

Behavior and lifestyle choices are respon­sible for coronary heart disease deaths, cancer deaths, lung cancer, mental disorders, work-r­elated injuries, and diabetes
Lifestyle choices include: smoking, poor nutrition, exercise, sexual activity, and alcohol intake.
Malnut­rition: condition caused by insuff­icient vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients.
Undern­utr­ition: lack of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.
Overnu­tri­tion: Excessive intake of nutrients.

Disability and chronic disease article

CDC. “About Chronic Diseases.” Centers for Disease Control and Preven­tion, 4 Oct. 2024, www.cd­c.g­ov/­chr­oni­c-d­ise­ase­/ab­out­/in­dex.html.

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Chronic disease prevention

Quit smoking, eat healthy, regular exercise, limit alcohol, regular health screening, know your family history, and get enough sleep.

Chronic disease prevention

“Prime Health Care.” Prime Health of New Jersey, 28 Aug. 2023, primeh­eal­tho­fnj.co­m/1­0-w­ays­-to­-pr­eve­nt-­chr­oni­c-d­ise­ases/.

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  • Published: 23rd February, 2025

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