Epidemiological studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Epidemiological studies - Essay Example An epidemiological study is the study of a population in order to determine and examine the relationship or correlation between certain segments of the population and their increased risk to disease due to expose to certain environmental exposure. This involves determining what factors related to diseases and the factors that might protect humans against the disease (Gallin, John and Frederick 15) Epidemiological studies are usually divided in two categories which are; Descriptive epidemiology which looks into a population by age group ,who gets affected by a disease, the rate and time at which the disease occurs and how often it occurs and the place where it occurs. Another one is analytical epidemiology which looks into finding out the causes of disease within a population by using cohort studies, case control studies and experimental studies giving attention to ideology. Bottom line, epidemiology largely relies on figures for finding out and quantifying the association between dis ease and the risk factors in order to establish if there is a common attendance of occurrence of certain diseases within a given geographical scope. Clinical trials on the other hand are the research studies that are carried out in order to confirm or denounce if a drug is fit for human consumption using designated or pre-defined rules.