Epidemiology is the study of disease occurrence and transmission in a human population, epidemiological studies focus on the distribution and determinants of disease. Epidemiology may also be considered the method of public health—a scientific approach to studying disease and health problems. Epidemiology consists of research methods and specific strategies for counting and calculating the occurrence and risk of disease. According to Diabetes India (n.d.), epidemiology is defined as “the study of a disease that deals with how many people have it, where they are, how many new cases develop, and how to control the disease.” Some of the common uses of epidemiology in general healthcare and public healthcare practices, in my opinion, consist of finding and understanding the causes of different types of diseases in populations; thwarting and monitoring diseases in populations; coordinating and regulating healthcare policy; and design that relates to disease in population–like flu virus, chemical spills, helping in the administration and monitoring of healthiness and sickness in individuals.
Diabetes India (n.d.). Epidemiology term. Retrieved May 1, 2015 from http://www.diabetesindia.com/diabetes/diabetes_edict.htm
