Assignment

Question 1
Which of the following is not one of the four criteria for the utility of epidemiologic data?
A.The nature of the data
B.The completeness of the data
C.The reason the data are collected
D.The availability of the data

Question 2
Which of the following data sources is most likely to be representative of the general health status of a population
A.Hospital outpatient statistics
B.Absenteeism data
C.Data from public health clinics
D.A morbidity survey of the general population

Question 3
What data source has the advantage of being almost nearly complete in the U.S.?
A.Reportable disease statistics
B.Mortality statistics
C.Birth statistics
D.B and C

Question 4
Cautious use of information from death certificates is warranted because:
A.certificates are not available for everyone who dies
B.certificates are often erroneous for date of death and sex
C.cause of death information may not be correct
D.autopsy results are not included
E.All of the above

Question 5
The Vital Statistics Registration System in the U.S. collects data on all vital events including:
A.births
B.deaths
C.fetal deaths
D.A and B only
E.A, B, and C

Question 6
In case-control studies, the odds ratio is used as an estimate of the relative risk. In order for this approximation to be reasonable, some conditions must be met. Which of the following conditions is not necessary in order to use the odds ratio to estimate the relative risk?
A.With respect to exposure, controls are representative of the population to which you want to generalize your results
B.The event (disease) under study is rare in the population
C.The exposure in question is rare in the population
D.Cases are representative of all cases

Question 7
Case-control studies are among the best observational designs to study diseases of
A.high prevalence
B.high validity
C.low case fatality
D.low prevalence

Question 8
A large medical center's oncology program reported an increased number of cases of pancreatic cancer during a certain month. The hospital's epidemiologist decided to research the problem. Tumor registry records were searched to identify all cases of pancreatic cancer during a five-year period; cancer patients were matched with patients treated for other diseases during the same five-year period. All subjects in the study were questioned about lifestyle factors including alcohol, tea, and coffee consumption. The resulting data are as follows:
Cancer Patients Other Patients
Men Women Men Women
LIFESTYLE VARIABLE
Alcohol 185 120 270 260
Tea Drinking 140 110 230 225
Coffee Drinking 190 140 270 240
Note: Total number of male cancer patients = 200.
Total number of female cancer patients = 150.
Total number of male patients (other diseases) = 300.
Total number of female patients (other diseases) = 300.
Use this data to answer the next 5 questions.
What type of study is this?
A.Case-control
B.Cohort
C.Case-series
D.Descriptive

Question 9
Does this study have an exposure status variable?
A.Yes, lifestyle
B.Yes, disease type
C.Yes, gender of patient
D.Yes, gender of patient and disease type

Question 10
Which number best approximates risk associated with Alcohol Drinking among Men:
A.2.11
B.0.92
C.0.71
D.1.37

Question 11
Which number best approximates risk associated with Coffee Drinking among Men?
A.2.11
B.0.94
C.1.02
D.3.50

Question 12
Based on your calculations above, which factor has the strongest association with cancer for men?
A.the factors show no variation in the association
B.not enough information to determine
C.Coffee drinking
D.Alcohol consumption

Question 13
Cohort study is to risk ratio as:
A.ecologic fallacy is to cross-sectional study
B.genetics is to environment
C.case-control study is to odds ratio
D.A and C

Question 14
A five-year prospective cohort study has just been completed. The study was designed to assess the association between supplemental vitamin A exposure and mortality and morbidity for measles. The RR for incidence of measles was 0.75 and the RR for measles mortality was 0.5.
Which statement is correct?
A.A cohort study is not an appropriate study design in this case because the association between one exposure and two different outcomes is being considered
B.One of the problems that this study may have faced is individuals lost to follow-up during the five-year period
C.A cohort study is not a good design to study this association because measles is a very common disease
D.None of the above

Question 15
Regarding the RR reported above, which statement is correct
A.Exposure to vitamin A appears to protect against morbidity and mortality for measles.
B.Exposure to vitamin A appears to be a risk factor for morbidity and mortality for measles
C.Exposure to vitamin A is not associated with morbidity and mortality for measles
D.Exposure to vitamin A is a risk factor for morbidity and a protective factor for mortality for measles

Question 16
Subjects for an exposure-based cohort study (when the exposure of interest is rare) would be selected Most appropriately from:
A.certain occupational groups such as battery workers
B.the residents of a large U.S. county
C.male Harvard alumni from 1916 to 1950
D.all of the above

Question 17
Nested case-control studies:
A.use subjects drawn from a cohort study.
B.provide a degree of control over confounding
C.reduce the cost of collecting exposure information
D.all of the above

Question 18
Practical considerations in the design of cohort studies do not usually include
A.availability of exposure data
B.size and cost of the cohort
C.follow-up issues
D.age of the investigator

Question 19
The purpose of double-blinding in clinical trials is to
A.reduce error that results from the way in which the outcome is assessed
B.reduce error that results from subjects' knowledge of their assignment to study conditions
C.reduce error that results from non-random assignment to study conditions
D.A and B only
E.all of the above

Question 20
Phase III clinical trials for a cancer drug involve
A.initial testing in humans
B.establishing toxicity levels
C.comparing survival rates for the new drug versus existing therapies
D.establishing maximum tolerated dose

Question 21
The purpose of randomization is to
A.reduce error that results from the way in which the outcome is assessed
B.reduce error that results from subjects' participation in the trial
C.reduce error that results from assignment to study conditions
D.A and C only
E.all of the above

Question 22
Which types of health issues are likely to be addressed in community trials
A.Smoking cessation
B.HIV/AIDS
C.Healthy eating trials
D.All of the above topics

Question 23
You would like to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of delivering health services through your clinic. After selecting a 10% sample of all patient visits during the past six months, you are able to characterize the patient population utilizing your clinic in terms of age, race, sex, method of referral, diagnostic category, therapy provided, method of payment, daily patient load, and clinic staff work schedules.
Which type of study design most appropriately characterizes this situation?
A.Case-control study
B.Prospective cohort study
C.Historical prospective cohort study
D.Cross-sectional study
E.Clinical trial
F.Community trial

Question 24
You are interested in finding out whether middle-aged men who have premature heartbeats are at greater risk of developing a myocardial infarction (heart attack) than men whose heartbeats are regular. Electrocardiogram (ECG) examinations are performed on all male office employees 35 years of age or older who work for oil companies in Houston. The ECG tracings are classified as irregular or regular. Five years later, myocardial infarction rates are compared between those with and those without baseline ECG irregularities.
Which type of study design most appropriately characterizes this situation?
A.Community trial
B.Cross-sectional study
C.Prospective cohort study
D.Historical prospective cohort study

Question 25
Ecological studies are an analytical study design that are advantageous in many ways. Which is not true about the ecological study design?
A.they are cost and time effective
B.they generally make use of secondary data
C.they do not collect data on the individual level of exposure
D.they collect data on the individual level of exposure.a