epidemiology
2 synonyms for epidemiology, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The branch of medicine that studies how often diseases occur in populations, who they affect and why, and how they can be controlled.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
disease ecology
population health science
How to use epidemiology
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
the epidemiology of
clinical epidemiology
genetic epidemiology
epidemiology and public health
Technical, but widely used in news coverage of outbreaks.
Etymology
From Greek epidēmia ('a stay in a place, prevalence of disease'), from epi ('among') plus dēmos ('people'), plus -logia ('study of').
Full origin of epidemiology →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between epidemiology and public health?
Epidemiology is a research discipline: it measures who gets ill, how often and why. Public health is the broader field that uses those findings, together with policy, education and services, to protect and improve the health of populations.
What does an epidemiologist actually do?
An epidemiologist designs and analyses studies of health in groups of people, tracking outbreaks, testing whether an exposure raises risk, and evaluating whether interventions work. Much of the job is statistics, surveillance data and study design rather than treating patients.
What is the difference between incidence and prevalence?
Incidence counts new cases arising in a population over a period of time, so it measures risk. Prevalence counts all existing cases at a given moment, so it measures burden. A long-lasting illness can have low incidence but high prevalence.
