Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in defined populations, and the application of this knowledge to prevent disease and promote health. It examines who is affected, where, and when, and why patterns of occurrence arise, quantifying disease frequency thr…
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in defined populations, and the application of this knowledge to prevent disease and promote health. It examines who is affected, where, and when, and why patterns of occurrence arise, quantifying disease frequency through measures such as incidence and prevalence and the strength of associations through measures of relative and attributable risk. Descriptive epidemiology characterises the occurrence of disease by person, place, and time, while analytical epidemiology uses observational designs, including cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies, to identify risk factors and test hypotheses about causation, with attention to bias, confounding, and chance. The discipline underpins surveillance, outbreak investigation, and the monitoring of temporal trends, as illustrated by analyses of infectious diseases such as syphilis, influenza, malaria, and typhoid co-infection, and of chronic and neoplastic conditions including thyroid and other cancers, as well as studies in veterinary and zoonotic contexts. Its findings inform clinical practice, public-health policy, screening programmes, and the rational allocation of resources. Research relevant to this topic spans the measurement of disease frequency and trends, the identification of risk and protective factors, the histopathological and clinical patterns of conditions in particular populations, and the methodological approaches that allow valid inference about the causes and control of disease.
12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 12 articles above have been cited 38 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Epidemiology, linking to each citing work.