2

1

4

Descriptive Epidemiology

Student Name

University Name

Course Code: Course Name

Instructors Name

Due Date

Descriptive Epidemiology

Introduction

Human health and disease occurrences are unequally distributed among different population groups, different countries, within a specific country and over a time period. Of importance it concerns epidemiologists why there are higher occurrences or prevalence of some adverse health outcomes, specific diseases or other health characteristics in particular countries than others or among certain group than another. This is the goal of epidemiology – attempting to unravel the causal factors for health characteristics or issues (Friis, & Sellers, 2009). Descriptive epidemiology categorizes the disease occurrence with regard to variables of place, person and time. It also provides valuable information by characterizing the amounts, and distributions of disease and health thereby acting as basis for planning, evaluating, and provision for health services. Descriptive epidemiology also permits trend analysis of health and disease (Aschengrau, & Seage, 2008). It is imperative to note that descriptive epidemiology is critical in epidemiological studies because hypotheses on determinants of a disease emerges from examining the variables of occurrence and determining the similarities, differences, and correlations. This paper reviews the frequency, incidence rate among age groups and gender, and geographical distributions within United State of unknown disease.

Incidence Rate of Unknown Disease by Age and Gender

The incidence rate of a disease is an epidemiological measure of disease frequency. It depicts the frequency of new occurrences of a disease that develops in a particular population at risk of the disease arising in specified period of time (Friis, & Sellers, 2009). In this case, the incidence rate of the unknown disease describes the number of new cases per 100,000 persons at risk of the disease by gender and age. According to the given graph here below, it clear that the males are more susceptible to the diseases than females. In 15 out of the 18 age groups, the incidence rate for males is higher than that of females. It is only in the age group 30-34 and 35-39 where the incidence rate for male is lower than that of female. The graph indicates patterns the gender differences that is at risk of the disease it can be assumed that since it is a pathogen that affects males more it could be something to do with lifestyle. Also, the disparity in the incidence rate between males and females is more pronounced between the ages 5 to 14 years and 70 to 85 years. This reveals that young and older males are significantly susceptible to the disease than their female counterparts.

Other the other hand, the comparison of the disease incidence rate between different age groups depict different susceptibility. New diseases cases were common in age groups 5-9, 45-49, 50-59, and 55-59. In other words, the unknown disease did manifest in the population mostly between the ages of five to nine years and peaked at the age group of 52- 54 years. The lowest disease incidence rate was recorded in the age group of 20 to 24 years.

Geographical Distribution of Unknown Disease in the United States

The map below depicts the nationwide distribution of the disease cases. The disease cases seems not be fairly distributed among the states as some states or counties have higher cases than others. It seems that more cases were reported in the eastern part of the country, particularly in the states of Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts where counties had 34 or more cases. Also, some counties of California, Wisconsin and Minnesota reported had 34 or more cases. Markedly, the disease is sporadically spread within counties that fall in the western central and western regions of the country. The pockets of concentration where more than 34 cases are reported are concentrated in particular areas only, making it easier for researchers and policy makers including health care officials to narrow down on the occurrence and look at outcomes of the same.

Incidence Rate of Unknown Disease by State 

States which have been most affected by the disease and the pathogens are shown below. Connecticut and Rhode Island have reported the highest number of cases while the occurrences in Minnesota and Massachusetts is quite low. This is an indicator to health care officials that the disease could be spreading very quickly and hence public health priorities for the population in these areas should be monitored very carefully. Intervention programs should also be marked up and implemented effectively (Aschengrau, & Seage, 2008). though New York stands high on the proportion of case reported the relationship between number of cases reported percentage and cases per 100,000 people varies according to states. Assessment of an outbreak by place provides information on the geographic extent of a problem and may also show clusters or patterns that provide clues to the identity and origins of the problem.

Frequency of Unknown Disease by Month of Onset

The time of the onset of the disease peaks in July thereby associating the disease to do something with the summer season. The months of June and august are equally severe while there are occurrences every month of the year. More than 20,000 cases of the disease have been reported in the month of July indicating that health care officials have to be on their guard during the month of July.

Frequency of Unknown Disease by Year

Historical significance of the disease taking 1982 as the base year shows that the occurrence has been steadily increasing. The year 1998 recorded almost 18000 cases becoming the highest. The year 1996 was equally affected though 1997 showed a dip. This could have been possible due to the discovery of an antibiotic or some very effective medicine that was administrated after 1996. But the outbreak of the diseases in 1998 proves that the drug could not contain the disease.

Conclusion

Overall, the cross-sectional surveys evaluate the catalogs of the unknown by looking at similarities, patterns, differences, prevalence and incidence rate of disease. The prevalence and incidence rate of the unknown disease are critical in for planning, evaluating, and provision for health services. While our analysis does not pinpoint the determinant or the casual factors of the disease, it deduces significant patterns among age groups, gender, geographical distributions, and the trends of the disease over time period. In particular, it gives us a snapshot of the determinants of unknown diseases and risk factors in a defined population. The above mentioned and discussed descriptive epidemiology can be summarized as affecting the male population more, occurring mostly in the month of July and affecting certain parts of the east coast more than the west and New York reporting the highest percentage of cases though, Connecticut has the highest number of reported cases. Incorporating descriptive epidemiology and analytical epidemiology is the bottom line for searching for the patterns that reveal the causal factors. The analysis of the given scenario can serve an important purpose of reducing the incidence rate of the unknown disease by deciphering the risk factors of the disease. Additionally, the analysis can serve relevant authorities and public health organizations by availing data and information which may lessen the cases of the unknown disease or lessen other kinds of events that affects the health of people

References:

Aschengrau, A., & Seage, G. (2008). Essentials of epidemiology in public health. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Friis, R. H., & Sellers, T. A. (2009). Epidemiology for public health practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning.