Question 1

Voters have recently decided to have fluoride added to the city water system. Epidemiologists now want to study the effect of fluoride on dental caries in this population. Which of the following would be conducted by the epidemiologists?

Accepted Answer

A community trial would be conducted to study the effect of fluoride on dental caries, as it involves implementing an intervention at the community level and observing the outcomes.

Question 2

A nurse is considering the potential for selection bias. Which of the following best describes the situation that is the nurse has encountered?

Accepted Answer

Selection bias occurs when the method of selecting participants into a study leads to a non-representative sample of the population, which can affect the validity of the study's conclusions. This is directly related to how participants enter the study, making option B the correct answer.

Question 3

A nurse is told that a screening test has high specificity. Which of the following is the best interpretation of this information?

Accepted Answer

High specificity means the test accurately identifies those without the condition or trait, minimizing false positives.

Question 4

A study that uses information on current health status, personal characteristics, and potential risk factors or exposures all at once is referred to by what term?

Accepted Answer

Cross-sectional studies collect data at a single point in time, assessing various factors including current health status, personal characteristics, and potential risk factors or exposures simultaneously. This allows for the analysis of prevalence and the relationships between variables at that specific point.

Question 5

A nurse states incorporating epidemiology into practice and functions in epidemiologic roles. Which of the following best describes the actions taken by the nurse? (Select all that apply.)

Accepted Answer

The answer of A nurse states incorporating epidemiology into practice...

Question 6

What term is used to identify the proportion of persons with positive test results who have a disease, interpreted as the probability that an individual with a positive test result has the disease?

Accepted Answer

Positive predictive value is the proportion of individuals with positive test results who actually have the disease, reflecting the probability that a person with a positive test result indeed has the disease.

Question 7

What is the most important predictor of overall mortality?

Accepted Answer

Age is the most important predictor of overall mortality because as people age, the risk of dying from various causes increases significantly.

Question 8

A nurse examines birth and death certificates during an epidemiologic investigation. Which of the following data categories is being used?

Accepted Answer

Birth and death certificates are examples of routinely collected data, as they are systematically gathered by governmental or health organizations for administrative and legal purposes.

Question 9

What term is used to identify the type of epidemiologic study that is used to describe a group of persons enrolled in a study who share some characteristic of interest and who are followed over a period to observe some health outcome?

Accepted Answer

Cohort studies involve following a group of people who share a common characteristic or exposure over time to observe the development of specific health outcomes, making it the correct term for the described type of epidemiologic study.

Question 10

During the twentieth century, a nurse participated in research that examined the epidemiology of various diseases. Which of the following best describes the factors that influenced these studies? (Select all that apply.)

Accepted Answer

The answer of During the twentieth century, a nurse participated...

Question 11

A nurse is investigating an outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness from a foodborne pathogen. The process associated with which of the following terms is being applied?

Accepted Answer

A point epidemic refers to an outbreak of disease that occurs within a specific population at a specific point in time, often associated with a common source such as contaminated food.

Quiz 13: Epidemiology