Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Section I Information problems
- Section II End of life care
- Section III Pregnant women and children
- Section IV Genetics and biotechnology
- Section V Research ethics
- Introduction
- 25 Research ethics
- 26 Innovation in medical care: examples from surgery
- 27 Clinical trials
- 28 Epidemiological research
- 29 Clinical research and the physician–patient relationship: the dual roles of physician and researcher
- 30 Financial conflict of interest in medical research
- 31 Embryo and fetal research
- Section VI Health systems and institutions
- Section VII Using clinical ethics to make an impact in healthcare
- Section VIII Global health ethics
- Section IX Religious and cultural perspectives in bioethics
- Section X Specialty bioethics
- Index
- References
28 - Epidemiological research
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Section I Information problems
- Section II End of life care
- Section III Pregnant women and children
- Section IV Genetics and biotechnology
- Section V Research ethics
- Introduction
- 25 Research ethics
- 26 Innovation in medical care: examples from surgery
- 27 Clinical trials
- 28 Epidemiological research
- 29 Clinical research and the physician–patient relationship: the dual roles of physician and researcher
- 30 Financial conflict of interest in medical research
- 31 Embryo and fetal research
- Section VI Health systems and institutions
- Section VII Using clinical ethics to make an impact in healthcare
- Section VIII Global health ethics
- Section IX Religious and cultural perspectives in bioethics
- Section X Specialty bioethics
- Index
- References
Summary
Dr. E is a primary care physician (general practitioner) with an extensive patient list. He is approached by researchers leading a large epidemiological study into the association between asthma and heart disease. He is asked for de-identified patient data on all his patients with a history of asthma concerning their age, sex, age at first diagnosis with asthma, current medication, and cardiovascular history. He is assured that the research ethics committees of both his local university hospital and the researchers' own institution has approved the study. He is offered payment for the administrator's time required to prepare this data.
What is epidemiological research?
Epidemiology may be defined as “the study of the distribution and determinants of disease in human populations” (Dunn, 2003, p. 34). There is no very tight distinction between epidemiology and other data collection and analysis practices in public health, but for practical purposes epidemiology can be considered a research activity, which is to say that it is concerned with producing generalizable scientific knowledge. A standard textbook of epidemiology (Farmer et al., 1996, p. 6) defined the principal uses of epidemiology as:
The investigation of the causes and natural history of disease, with the aim of disease prevention and health promotion.
The measurement of health care needs and the evaluation of clinical management, with the aim of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of health care provision.
Both of these can be read as service objectives (What caused this disease outbreak?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics , pp. 207 - 213Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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