Time
Figure 19 - Historgam
Time is an area of great interest to the epidemiologist, it can tell a lot about a disease or health related event, as time can be reflective of either short-term incubation or long term latency (chronic), eitther of which can support for dispel a suspicion as to the nature, cause, and origin of the disease (Merrill, 2013). Epidemiologist when studying the time component in descriptive epidemiology, focuses on alterations in occurance, intervals, or frequency of the disease, by obtaining data through a collection of repeated observations made at regular intervals, which can then be displayed on a histogram (left).
By studying the time component of descriptive epidemiology, an epidemiologist is able to discern secular trends (those that seen over longer periods of time- years) as well as short term trends of fluctuations ( usually brief or unexpected increase in health related events) (Merrill, 2013). These trends are usually occur over hours, days, or months. In addition, the epidemiologist will be able to note cyclic patterns of predictable causes of disease, some of which may be seasonal or due to immigration/migration patterns (Merrill, 2013). An epidemiologist can then track the pattern of appearance of cases, and incidence rate is the rate at which a disease develops in a group over a period of time. This can then yield information as to the source of an outbreak - point source (limited) vs. continuous source out-break (Merrill, 2013).
By studying the time component of descriptive epidemiology, an epidemiologist is able to discern secular trends (those that seen over longer periods of time- years) as well as short term trends of fluctuations ( usually brief or unexpected increase in health related events) (Merrill, 2013). These trends are usually occur over hours, days, or months. In addition, the epidemiologist will be able to note cyclic patterns of predictable causes of disease, some of which may be seasonal or due to immigration/migration patterns (Merrill, 2013). An epidemiologist can then track the pattern of appearance of cases, and incidence rate is the rate at which a disease develops in a group over a period of time. This can then yield information as to the source of an outbreak - point source (limited) vs. continuous source out-break (Merrill, 2013).