experimental epidemiology

experimental epidemiology,

a type of epidemiologic investigation that uses an experimental model for studies to confirm a causal relationship suggested by observational studies.

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epidemiology

1. the study of the relationships of various factors determining the frequency and distribution of diseases in a community.

2. the field of veterinary medicine dealing with the determination of specific causes of localized outbreaks of infection, toxic poisoning, or other disease of recognized etiology.

3. the study of disease in communities.

4. Called also epizootiology.

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analytical epidemiology

statistical analysis of epidemiological data in an attempt to establish relationships between causative factors and incidence of disease.

descriptive epidemiology

information about the occurrence of a disease, some of it mathematical, but with no attempt to establish relationships between cause and effect.

experimental epidemiology

prospective population experiments designed to test epidemiological hypotheses, and usually attempt to relate the postulated cause to the observed effect. Trials of new anthelmintics are an example.

gum-boots epidemiology

see shoe-leather epidemiology (below).

landscape epidemiology

epidemiology of a disease in relation to the entire ecosystem under study.

observational epidemiology

based on clinical and field observations, not on experiments.

shoe-leather epidemiology

epidemiology conducted as a field study. Called also gum-boots epidemiology.

theoretical epidemiology

the use of mathematical models to explain and examine aspects of epidemiology, e.g. computer simulation models of outbreaks.

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experimental

emanating from or pertaining to experiment.

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experimental animals

animals kept expressly for the purposes of conducting experiments on them. Called also laboratory animals.

experimental design

the method of allocating experimental units to treatment groups in an experiment; many complicated and sophisticated designs are available, e.g. balanced, unbalanced, crossover, factorial, randomized, non-random, split-plot.

experimental epidemiology

the study of changes effected in populations by changes made in the factors affecting their performance, behavior or health.

experimental model

experiment carried out using a model of a real system which contains some of the risk factors which apply in the real state; the model is a simplification of real life.

experimental study

a study in which all of the risk factors are under the direct control of the investigator.