Arab Board Family Medicine Part 1 key terms

The number of patients who must receive an intervention for one additional patient to gain the intended outcome, calculated as the reciprocal of the absolute risk reduction. Smaller values indicate a more effective intervention.

The arithmetic difference in event rates between a control group and a treated group, expressed as a percentage or proportion. It reflects the true clinical impact of an intervention rather than its proportional effect.

The ratio of the risk of an outcome in an exposed or treated group to the risk in an unexposed or control group. It shows how many times more or less likely an event is, but ignores baseline risk.

The ratio of the odds of exposure among cases to the odds of exposure among controls, commonly used in case-control studies. It approximates relative risk when the outcome is rare.

An observational design that starts with people who already have an outcome and compares their past exposures with those of similar people without the outcome. It is efficient for rare diseases but prone to recall and selection bias.

A distortion that arises when the groups compared differ systematically in ways related to both exposure and outcome, often because of how participants were chosen or retained. It threatens the internal validity of a study.

A situation in which a third variable is associated with both the exposure and the outcome, creating a spurious or distorted apparent relationship between them. It can be addressed through study design or statistical adjustment.

The process of allocating participants to study groups by chance so that known and unknown confounders are distributed evenly. It is the defining feature of a randomized controlled trial and supports causal inference.

An analysis that includes all randomized participants in the groups to which they were assigned, regardless of whether they completed or adhered to the intervention. It preserves the benefits of randomization and gives a pragmatic estimate of effect.

Sensitivity is the proportion of people with disease who test positive; specificity is the proportion without disease who test negative. They describe a test's intrinsic accuracy and are independent of disease prevalence.

The probability that a person with a positive test result truly has the disease. Unlike sensitivity, it depends strongly on the prevalence of the condition in the population tested.

A measure of how much a test result changes the probability of disease, comparing the chance of that result in people with disease to the chance in people without it. Values far from 1 are clinically useful.

An apparent improvement in survival caused only by earlier detection of disease, which lengthens the time a person is known to have the condition without actually postponing death. It can falsely suggest screening benefit.

The tendency of screening programs to detect slowly progressive disease preferentially, making screened patients appear to survive longer than those diagnosed clinically. It overstates the benefit of screening.

The systematic testing of apparently healthy people to identify those with unrecognized disease or risk factors, aiming for earlier treatment. It requires a condition with a detectable preclinical phase and an effective intervention.

Indirect protection of susceptible individuals that occurs when a sufficiently high proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease, reducing transmission. The threshold varies with how contagious the pathogen is.

A condition that clinicians and laboratories are legally required to report to public health authorities so that surveillance, contact tracing, and control measures can be initiated. Examples include measles, tuberculosis, and cholera.

The number of new cases of a disease arising in a defined population over a specified period, divided by the population at risk. It measures the rate at which new disease develops.

The total number of existing cases of a disease in a population at a given time, divided by the total population. It reflects disease burden and is influenced by both incidence and duration of illness.

The process by which a patient voluntarily agrees to a medical intervention after receiving and understanding information about its nature, risks, benefits, and alternatives, and after demonstrating adequate decision-making capacity.

A patient's ability to understand relevant information, appreciate the consequences of choices, reason through options, and communicate a consistent decision. It is assessed for a specific decision rather than as a global trait.

The ethical and legal duty to protect patient information from unauthorized disclosure. It may be overridden only with patient consent or when required by law, such as for notifiable diseases or serious public safety risks.

The ethical principle that respects patients' right to make informed choices about their own care according to their values. It underpins informed consent and shared decision-making in family medicine.

A collaborative, person-centered counseling style that helps patients explore and resolve ambivalence about behavior change. It uses open questions, reflective listening, and affirmation rather than advice-giving or confrontation.

A framework describing behavior change as progressing through precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance, with relapse possible at any stage. Interventions should be matched to the patient's current stage.

A short, structured conversation delivered in routine care that raises awareness of a risky behavior and encourages reduction, often using feedback and advice. It is effective for hazardous alcohol use and smoking.

A collaborative process in which clinician and patient exchange information about options, evidence, and patient values, then agree on a plan together. It is particularly valuable when evidence is equivocal or preferences matter.

An acute, fluctuating disturbance of attention and awareness, often with altered cognition, caused by an underlying medical condition, medication, or withdrawal. It is a medical emergency and is frequently mistaken for dementia.

A chronic, progressive decline in two or more cognitive domains that impairs independence in daily activities, without impaired consciousness. Common causes include Alzheimer disease and vascular disease.

A mood disorder marked by persistent low mood or loss of interest, with changes in sleep, appetite, energy, concentration, and self-worth lasting at least two weeks and causing functional impairment.

Life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. It requires prompt recognition, cultures, early broad-spectrum antibiotics, and fluid resuscitation to reduce mortality.

Sepsis with persistent hypotension requiring vasopressors to maintain mean arterial pressure and a persistently elevated lactate despite adequate fluid resuscitation. It carries high mortality and needs intensive care.

A bedside screening tool for suspected infection that scores one point each for respiratory rate of 22 or more, altered mentation, and systolic blood pressure of 100 mmHg or less. A score of two or more signals high risk.

A spectrum of conditions caused by acute myocardial ischemia, including unstable angina, non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction, and ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Immediate ECG and troponin testing guide urgent management.

A cardiac muscle protein released into blood when myocardial cells are injured. High-sensitivity assays are the preferred biomarker for diagnosing acute myocardial infarction, interpreted with serial sampling and clinical context.

A pregnancy-specific disorder of new hypertension after 20 weeks' gestation with proteinuria or maternal organ dysfunction. It can progress to eclampsia and requires close monitoring and timely delivery.

The occurrence of generalized tonic-clonic seizures in a woman with preeclampsia, without another identifiable cause. Magnesium sulfate is the treatment of choice for prevention and control of seizures.

Glucose intolerance first recognized during pregnancy, usually detected by oral glucose tolerance testing at 24 to 28 weeks. It increases risks of macrosomia, preeclampsia, and later type 2 diabetes.

Inadequate physical growth in infancy or early childhood, shown by a fall across weight or length percentiles or persistently low measurements. Causes include inadequate intake, malabsorption, and underlying disease.

A standardized graph of height, weight, and head circumference against age used to track a child's growth over time. Serial plotting is more informative than a single measurement.

Feeding an infant human milk directly from the breast, recommended exclusively for about the first six months and continued alongside complementary foods. It reduces infection and supports optimal growth and development.