Hint: Think like a…
-Biologist
-Medical doctor
-Public health officer
-Health policy maker
Eg. World health organization (look at the spread of a disease); Pharmacy (find preventative
Eg. Stop the spread of west nile virus (mosquito), learn from the media, get rid of standing water around your house
USA: Cause of mortality in the 1900s per 100,000 people
#1 cause of death = pneumonia (respiratory infection causing inflammation) Caused by bacteria infection, parasites, virus…
#2 Tuberculosis- bacteria infection affect lungs and other organs #3 Diarrhea & Enteritis (inflammation of small intestine)
#4 Heart Disease
#5 Chronic Nephritis (inflammation of kidney) caused by bacteria infection #6 Accident
#7 Stroke
#8 Infancy
#9 Cancer
#10 Diphtheria (bacterial infection of upper respiratory tract→ demylination *Something that is cause and causes death very soon.
CANADA: Cause of mortality 2009
#1 Cancer
#2 Heart disease
#3 Cerebrovascular diseases (stroke in your head)
#4 Accidents
#5 Chronic lower respiratory diseases
#6 Diabetes mellitus
#7Alzheimer’s disease
#8 Influenza and pneumonia
#9 Suicide
#10 Renal failure (kidney)
#11 Liver disease and cirrhosis
#12 Septicaemia
*Mostly chronic diseases and thing you accumulate overtime, don’t kill you right away, people can live with for an amount of time.
Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in first world countries. Where does epidemiology fit in?
Eg. Heart disease doesn’t spread from person to person, need to look at different risk factors like physical activity
Physical Activity Epidemiology
What is PA Epi?
Origins of the link between PA and health
Behavioral Epidemiology
*How people’s behaviors create disease not how disease is spread from person to person
Three goals of PA Epi
1. Relationship between morbidity (state of being diseased) and mortality (death rates) 2. Risk factors
-Very difficult to study because you cannot cause people to get chronic diseases; must look at connections and relationships -Are activity levels changing?
-What factors (personal, environmental) are related to physical activity? -When data collection occurs (winter vs. summer)
3. How to prevent
Use evidence to determine
-How PA can be changed
-Extent to which PA is a risk factor
-Impact of changes in PA
The Burden of Physical Inactivity in Canada
Direct costs
-Drugs, hospital and physician care
Indirect costs
-Work loss due to disability
Indirect and Direct Costs Associated with Inactivity in Canada CAD= coronary artery disease
Stroke= causes cell death of brain cells due to blocked pathways to brain *Total costs: $5.31 billion
Exercise and Morbidity
CVD= cardiovascular disease
From the Greeks to the North Americans
-Exercise as medicine (helps rheumatism- disorder of joints and CT) -Greek Physician Herodicus (Therapeutic gymnastics, influenced Hippocrates, Aristotle (First person to link physical activity to health!)
-Exercise and Health Education (Italy)
-Only scholars agreed, physicians did not agree
Modern History of PA & Health
Landmark Studies
1.London Bus Study (1950s)
Jeremy Morris (physician)
Relationship between occupational physical activity and health (how active you are at your job) Method: Measure heart disease in double-decker bus drivers vs. conductors
MI= myocardial infarction
Analyze data from hospital
x-axis: 35-44; 45-54; 55-64
y-axis: conductors on left, drivers on right
increments of 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250
-Cannot say being active during job will not cause MI
-Many other considerations need to be taken into account for example all drivers smoked -Diet, smokers, genetic disorders, personal preference in jobs
-Conductors who were more active on the job has fewer heart attacks→ lower risk .