epidemiology

American  

[ep-i-dee-mee-ol-uh-jee, -dem-ee-] / ˌɛp ɪˌdi miˈɒl ə dʒi, -ˌdɛm i- /

noun

1. the study, assessment, and analysis of public health concerns in a given population; the tracking of patterns and effects of diseases, environmental toxins, natural disasters, violence, terrorist attacks, etc..

   Without the profiles gleaned through epidemiology, our health agencies would be at a terrible loss when something like COVID-19 emerges.

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epidemiology British  

/ ˌɛpɪˌdiːmɪəˈlɒdʒɪkəl, ˌɛpɪˌdiːmɪˈɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. the branch of medical science concerned with the occurrence, transmission, and control of epidemic diseases

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epidemiology Scientific  

/ ĕp′ĭ-dē′mē-ŏl′ə-jē /

1. The scientific study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations.

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Other Word Forms

• epidemiological adjective
• epidemiologically adverb
• epidemiologist noun

Etymology

Origin of epidemiology

First recorded in 1870–75; epidemi(c) + -o- + -logy

Example Sentences

Her background is in sports medicine, epidemiology and pandemic policy, not the traditional disciplines of drug development and regulatory management.

From The Wall Street Journal

Joseph Palamar, a professor at NYU Langone Health who studies drug use epidemiology, said his team examined the websites of more than 200 ketamine providers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

From The Wall Street Journal

"These very intense exposures of particulates have immediate impacts on the lungs," added Anna Hansell, professor of environmental epidemiology at the University of Leicester.

From BBC

A physician specializing in public health and clinical toxicology, and trained in environment epidemiology, carried out the research for EIA and a Congolese environmental group, PremiCongo.

From The Wall Street Journal

The rate of people under 50 being diagnosed with this cancer has risen by roughly a third since the 1990s, Helen Coleman, a cancer epidemiology professor at Queen's University Belfast, told AFP.

From Barron's