Week 2: Descriptive Epidemiology and Data Sources for Population Health
In 2016, the Surgeon General and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made policy recommendations related to e-cigarettes intended to curb their use by minors, including: (a) incorporating them under current clean indoor air policies, (b) requiring sellers to be licensed, (c) restricting marketing, and (d) increasing educational initiatives (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). In the intervening years, policies have become more restrictive. For instance, in 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration implemented a policy to ban all flavors of e-cigarettes except tobacco or menthol (FDA, 2020). As of 2021, all 50 states prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to minors (CDC, 2021). What investigations led to these recommendations? How did these public health entities determine the use of e-cigarettes by minors?
Week 1 presented foundational concepts of epidemiology and described how epidemiology is used to improve population health. Building on that information, this week, you will be introduced to descriptive epidemiologic research studies. You will examine the purposes of descriptive epidemiology, which provides a picture of the distribution of disease in terms of person, place, and time. You will also look at sources of health data that can be useful for this type
of research. By understanding the descriptive characteristics of diseases, nurses and healthcare providers can develop
hypotheses related to diseases. They can then address these further by using analytic epidemiologic study techniques,
which will be discussed in subsequent weeks.
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). State tobacco activities tracking and evaluation (STATE) system: STATE system e-cigarette fact sheet.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2016). E–cigarette use among youth and young adults: A report of the Surgeon General. https://e-
cigarettes surgeongeneral.gov/documents/2016_SGR_Full_Report_non-508.pdf
U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (2020, January 2). FDA finalizes enforcement policy on unauthorized flavored cartridge–based e-cigarettes that appeal to
children, including fruit and mint [Press release]. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-finalizes-enforcement-policy-unauthorized-
flavored-cartridge-based-e-cigarettes-appeal-children
Learning Objectives
Students will:
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Apply descriptive epidemiologic concepts and methods to a population health problem
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Select methods for collecting descriptive epidemiologic data
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Analyze strengths and limitations of secondary data sources
Assess the quality and validity of secondary epidemiologic data sources
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
A
Curley, A. L. C. (Ed.). (2020). Population–based nursing: Concepts and competencies for
advanced practice (3rd ed.). Springer.
• Chapter 6, “Using Information Technology to Improve Population Outcomes”
Friis, R. H., & Sellers, T. A. (2021). Epidemiology for public health practice (6th ed.).
Jones & Bartlett.
• Chapter 4, “Descriptive Epidemiology: Person, Place, Time”
• Chapter 5, “Sources of Data for Use in Epidemiology”
@
National Institutes of Health National Library of Medicine. (2019). Finding and using health statistics. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/stats_tutorial/cover.html
Secondary Data Sources
Use the following resources to locate secondary data sources for this week’s Assignment:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Data. CDC.gov: Home. https://data.cdc.gov/
National Center for Health Statistics. (2015). Resources for researchers. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nchs_for_you/researchers.htm
&
Walden University Office of Research and Doctoral Services. (n.d.). Explore existing datasets. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/research-center/student-research/data-
sources
World Health Organization. (2021). WHO Data collections [Data sets]. https://www.who.int/data/collections
Required Media (click to expand/reduce)
A
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Secondary Data Sources for Population Health
Walden University, LLC. (2021). Descriptive epidemiology–person, place, and
time [Interactive media]. Walden University Blackboard. https://class.waldenu.edu
Walden University, LLC. (2021). Theoretical models–One Health and
socioecological model [Interactive media]. Walden University Blackboard. https://class.waldenu.edu
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Discussion: Descriptive Epidemiology: Data Sources and Data Collection
Descriptive epidemiology deals with describing disease
patterns using three major categories: person, place, or
time (Friis & Sellers, 2021). Consider the following example:
Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Over the last weekend, six people went to the Alcan City Hospital emergency room with similar symptoms. The laboratory results for the six patients were indicative of an infection due to Escherichia coli (E. coli). Patient interviews revealed they had all eaten a meal at Sam’s Sandwich Food Truck during the Alcan City Fair within 48 hours of going to the hospital. Further inquiries by the Alcan City public health officials identified that the source of the E. coli contamination was the lettuce that Sam’s had purchased from M&L Produce (a produce supplier located in Tempe, Arizona). Epidemiologists from the Arizona State Health Department determined that the lettuce that M&L supplied Sam’s was from a farm located in Xion, California (the key supplier for M&L Produce).
Aside from the six patients who sought treatment, epidemiologists tracked down and conducted interviews with 400 of the fair attendees to identify any potential cases who did not seek treatment and compare data with those who attended but did not become ill. Interview questions pertained to descriptive aspects of the outbreak (person, place, and time). Analysis of data collected on foods eaten allowed the epidemiologists to narrow it down and identify sandwiches served by Sam’s Sandwich Food Truck at the fair on Saturday as the source of infection. Alcan City public health officials were quick to visit the food truck to inquire into their food management and handling. The food truck owner was cooperative and helpful in providing licensing, permits, operations, and sales
information.
Descriptive epidemiologic studies are often conducted as precursors to analytic studies. Epidemiologic concepts are used to gather data to better understand and evaluate health trends in populations. Data, such as characteristics of the
persons affected, place where an incident occurred, and time of occurrence, are collected and analyzed to look for
patterns in an effort to identify emerging health problems. It was in just this way that the HIV/AIDS epidemic was first
identified.
In this Discussion, you will apply the epidemiologic concepts of time, place, and person to a specific population health
problem. You will also consider methods for obtaining data to study an issue.
To prepare:
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Examine Table 2.2 in your Curley textbook. Select a topic from the table to use for this Discussion.
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Locate two scholarly articles that provide background information about the problem.
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Identify a specific population affected by your selected health problem.
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Research the patterns of the disease in your selected population using the epidemiologic characteristics of person, place, and time.
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Consider methods for obtaining data to examine the association you selected.
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Ask yourself: How would the methods I select influence the accuracy of case identification, definition, and
diagnosis?
By Day 3 of Week 2
Post a cohesive response that addresses the following:
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Describe your selected health problem using the epidemiologic model (person, place, and time), with a focus on
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the population affected by this problem.
Identify two secondary data sources that you could use to collect the data needed to address this topic.
Discuss sampling methods you could use to collect primary data to describe and study your health problem.
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Explain how these methods and sources would influence the completeness of case identification as well as the case definition/diagnostic criteria used.
By Day 6 of Week 2
Respond to at least two colleagues on two different days in one or more of the following ways:
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Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.
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Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new
perspectives.
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Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
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Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
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Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on
readings and evidence.
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 2 Discussion Rubric
Post by Day 3 of Week 2 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 2
To Participate in this Discussion:
Week 2 Discussion
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Assignment: Strengths and Limitations of Secondary
Data Sources
In this information age, where data are readily accessible
and there is both a great demand for accelerated
research projects and strict limitations on research funding, using existing data makes sense. Data used in
this way are called secondary data; they come in many forms and contain information on just about anything- depending on who collected the information in the first. place, and why.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
As a health professional, you have access to a wide range of secondary data sources, including government agencies (such as, the Census Bureau or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and private sources, including local
health service providers. Global and international data are available from familiar sources, such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations. In addition, nearly every nation maintains statistics on social, economic, and environmental indicators, which contain a wealth of health information.
As a member of the Walden community, you have access to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), the world’s largest archival database of secondary data. You also have access to the Social Change Impact Report (SCIR) data sets-a Walden-owned database. There are also a number of sources and tutorials available to you through Walden’s Office of Research and Doctoral Quality.
No matter the topic-be it vaccination rates, women’s access to mammography, or chronic lung disease-you can probably find an existing secondary data source related to the specific population health problem you are investigating. The next steps are to identify the variables in the data source that you would need to analyze to examine the association of interest and to assess the validity of the data source. For this Assignment, you delve into these issues in greater detail.
To prepare:
Consider a variety of population health problems and then select one of professional interest on which to focus
•
for this Assignment.
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Explore three data sources (data sets) presented in the Learning Resources that could aid you in describing the population and magnitude of the problem you selected. Consider the strengths and limitations of each data
source.
The Assignment
In 3-4 pages (not including title page and references), analyze the data sources you selected by addressing the
following:
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Briefly identify the population health problem you selected.
.
Identify each data set you selected.
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Identify the variables in each data set you would need to examine the association of interest.
Assess the validity of each data set. Has it been used for prior studies/publications?
Explain challenges you might face as a researcher in identifying a proper data set or securing permission to use
it.
By Day 7 of Week 2
Submit your Assignment.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
Please save your Assignment using the naming convention WK2Assgn+last name+first initial as the name.
Click the Week 2 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
Click the Week 2 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find your saved document and click
Open.
If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the
Global Reference Database.
•
Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 2 Assignment Rubric
Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity
To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 2 Assignment draft and review the originality report.
Submit Your Assignment by Day 7 of Week 2
To participate in this Assignment:
Week 2 Assignment
What’s Coming Up in Module 2?
Next Module
To go to the next module:
Module 2
In the next module, you will investigate observational and experimental study designs in population research.
