By Day 3
Post a cohesive response that addresses the following:
Evaluate your selected health problem in the population you identified by describing three to five characteristics related to person, place, and time.
Appraise the data sources you utilized by outlining the strengths and limitations of each.
Discuss two methods you could use to collect raw data to determine the descriptive epidemiology of your health problem, Determine how these methods would influence the completeness of case identification as well as the case definition/diagnostic criteria used.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
Place your order today!
Solution
Discussion: Descriptive Epidemiology
The selected health problem for this discussion post is Coronavirus or Covid-19. Covid-19 is a viral infection caused by coronavirus. It was considered a global pandemic in 2020 due to its impact on the population. Descriptive epidemiology can be used to understand better coronavirus by focusing on aspects that include person, place, and time. Everybody is at a risk of being affected by Covid-19. However, specific individuals are increasingly predisposed to worse outcomes due to the virus. An example is individuals with chronic conditions such as asthma, obesity, chronic lung disease, diabetes, cancer, sickle cell disease, and conditions causing suppression of the immune system such as HIV/AIDS (CDC, 2020). Bertoncelli et al. (2020) assert that children suffering from medical complexities, neurologic, genetic or metabolic conditions as well as congenital heart disease are also predisposed to poor outcomes due to Covid-19.
In terms of place, individuals working in congested environments with poor ventilation are highly predisposed to Covid-19 due to contact transmission. Individuals working with patients suffering from Covid-19 such as the healthcare providers are also increasingly predisposed. Living in environments with poor adoption of preventive measures is also a risk factor. In terms of time, Covid-19 symptoms appear between 5 and 6 days of exposure to the virus. It may however last up to 14 days for some patients to show symptoms (Binns et al., 2020; Noor et al., 2020). Since its discovery in 2019, Covid-19 has led to 48.1 million cases in the USA with 777000 deaths.
The data sources that were utilized in the above descriptive statistics included those by Bertoncelli et al. (2020), Binns et al. (2020), CDC, (2020) and Noor et al. (2020). The evidence provided by CDC (2020) is highly reliable due to the role the CDC plays in addressing infectious diseases, including Covid-19. The website did not however provide insights into the sources of data, hence, its weakness. The study by Bertoncelli et al., (2020) is associated with the strength of bridging the gap on the evidence about the pediatric factors that contribute to worse outcomes in Covid-19. The authors recognize that most of the existing evidences focus on the adult populations, which leads to skewed approach in understanding the risk factors in pediatric populations. As a result, the authors not only inform about the effects of cardiovascular factors on worse outcomes in pediatric populations affected by Covid-19 but also the influence of comorbid conditions such as metabolic and genetic disorders. The article however has the weakness of not using human subjects to determine the factors but reviewing the existing evidence on the topic.
The study by Binns et al. (2020) is associated with the strength of increasing our understanding of the descriptive epidemiology of Covid-19. The researchers explore the place, time, and person aspects of descriptive epidemiology. The research however has the weakness of being descriptive in nature without the involvement of human subjects to analyze the epidemiological concepts. The study by Noor et al. (2020) has similar strength where the authors provide information about the descriptive epidemiology of Covid-19. It however utilizes evidence from other studies, which may weaken the validity of the reported findings.
One of the methods I could utilize to collect raw data to determine the descriptive epidemiology of Covid-19 is the administration of questionnaires to survivors of Covid-19. The other way is by conducting surveys with the survivors of Covid-19. The use of questionnaires and surveys will enhance the accuracy of data and understanding of the factors associated with Covid-19, hence, case definition and identification in epidemiological investigations.
References
Bertoncelli, D., Guidarini, M., Della Greca, A., Ratti, C., Falcinella, F., Iovane, B., Dutto, M. L., Caffarelli, C., &Tchana, B. (2020).COVID19: Potential cardiovascular issues in pediatric patients.Acta Bio Medica : AteneiParmensis, 91(2), 177–183. https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v91i2.9655
Binns, C., Low, W. Y., & Kyung, L. M. (2020).The COVID-19 Pandemic: Public Health and Epidemiology.Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 32(4), 140–144. https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539520929223
CDC. (2020). COVID-19 and Your Health.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html
Noor, A. U., Maqbool, F., Bhatti, Z. A., & Khan, A. U. (2020).Epidemiology of CoViD-19 Pandemic: Recovery and mortality ratio around the globe.Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 36(COVID19-S4), S79–S84. https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.COVID19-S4.2660