Question

1. How are age, race, gender, socioeconomic status associated with disease? 2. What are modifiable risk factors? 3. What is descriptive epidemiology? 4. Relative to the HIV Clinics in Kentucky case study, what criteria should be used to locate a new clinic? 5. How is a Geographic Information System used in descriptive epidemiology?

Answer 1

1. Age - There are many diseases who affect at a specific age.

Example - T2 Diabetes Mellitus affects afters 30s or 40s but Gastroenteritis is very common in children.

Children and old aged peoples are susceptible to many infectious diseases due to low immunity.

Race - Some diseases are more prevalent in some races due to environmental factors and genetics.

Example - white peoples are more susceptible to skin cancer than black people due to melanin distribution.

European populations are found to be more susceptible to cystic fibrosis and hemochromatosis while Mediterranean and African peoples are more susceptible to the sickle-cell disease.

Gender - Some diseases only affect specific genders.

Example - Cervical cancer only occurs in males.

Breast cancer more prevalent in women and Lung cancer are more prevalent in men.

Socioeconomic status - Different socioeconomic class has a different lifestyle so, prevalent of diseases also vary according to different socioeconomic class.

Example - Lower socioeconomic classes are always suffered in vitamin and mineral deficiency disorders due to a lack of healthy food intake.

Chronic diseases like heart disease and stroke are more prevalent in higher socio-economic classes due to a sedentary lifestyle.