EHPLE Public Health flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Exposure vs. dose

Exposure is contact between an agent and the outer boundary of the body, while dose is the amount that crosses that boundary and reaches a target tissue after absorption.

Hazard quotient

The ratio of an estimated exposure dose to a reference dose for the same route and duration; a value above one indicates the exposure exceeds the reference dose.

Biomagnification

The increase in tissue concentration of a persistent, lipophilic substance across successive trophic levels, resulting in the highest concentrations in top predators.

Reference dose

An estimate of a daily oral exposure to the human population, including sensitive subgroups, that is likely to be without appreciable risk of deleterious effects over a lifetime.

Monte Carlo analysis

A probabilistic method that repeatedly samples input distributions in an exposure or risk model to produce a distribution of estimated risks rather than a single point estimate.

Incidence rate

The number of new cases of a disease divided by the person-time at risk during a specified period, expressed as cases per person-year or per 100,000 person-years.

Odds ratio

The ratio of the odds of exposure among cases to the odds of exposure among controls; it approximates relative risk when the disease is rare.

Syndromic surveillance

Monitoring of pre-diagnostic data such as emergency department chief complaints, pharmacy sales, or school absenteeism to detect outbreaks earlier than routine reporting.

Positive predictive value

The proportion of people with a positive test result who truly have the condition; it depends on both test specificity and the prevalence of the condition in the population.

Standardized mortality ratio

The ratio of observed deaths in a study population to the number expected if it had the age-specific death rates of a standard population, multiplied by 100.

Case definition

A standard set of criteria, usually clinical, laboratory, and epidemiologic, used to classify whether a person should be counted as a case in an investigation.

NAAQS

National Ambient Air Quality Standards set by EPA under the Clean Air Act for six criteria pollutants, with primary standards protecting health and secondary standards protecting welfare.

NPDES permit

A National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued under the Clean Water Act that limits discharges of pollutants from point sources into surface waters of the United States.

MCL

A maximum contaminant level, the enforceable standard under the Safe Drinking Water Act for the highest concentration of a contaminant allowed in public drinking water.

CERCLA

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, known as Superfund, which establishes liability for hazardous substance releases and funds cleanup of contaminated sites.

FQPA safety factor

The Food Quality Protection Act requires an additional tenfold margin of safety for pesticide residues to protect infants and children, unless evidence supports a different factor.

TSCA

The Toxic Substances Control Act regulates industrial chemicals; the 2016 Lautenberg amendments require EPA to evaluate existing chemicals and make safety findings without considering cost.

HACCP

A preventive food safety system with seven principles: hazard analysis, critical control points, critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification, and recordkeeping.

Critical control point

A step in food production where a control measure can be applied and is essential to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level.

Temperature danger zone

The range from 4°C to 60°F (40°F to 140°F) in which foodborne bacteria multiply rapidly; perishable food should not remain in this range more than two hours.

Water activity

The ratio of vapor pressure of water in a food to that of pure water; most bacteria require water activity above 0.85 to grow, so drying and salting preserve food.

Botulinum toxin heat lability

Botulinum toxin is destroyed by boiling for at least ten minutes, whereas Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin and Bacillus cereus emetic toxin are heat-stable and survive cooking.

BOD5

Biochemical oxygen demand measured over five days at 20°C, indicating the amount of biodegradable organic matter in water and used to gauge wastewater treatment performance.

CT value

The product of disinfectant residual concentration in mg/L and contact time in minutes, used to determine whether a drinking water disinfection process achieves required pathogen inactivation.

Disinfection byproducts

Compounds such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids formed when chlorine reacts with natural organic matter; precursor removal before chlorination reduces their formation.

Eutrophication

Nutrient enrichment, especially by nitrogen and phosphorus, that stimulates algal blooms, depletes dissolved oxygen, and degrades aquatic ecosystems and drinking water quality.

PM2.5

Airborne particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less; it penetrates deep into the lungs and is strongly associated with cardiopulmonary mortality.

Tropospheric ozone formation

Ozone is formed photochemically when nitrogen oxides react with volatile organic compounds in sunlight, producing peak concentrations on hot, sunny afternoons downwind of sources.

Radon action level

The US EPA recommends mitigation when indoor radon concentrations reach or exceed 4 picocuries per liter, because radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking.

Risk assessment paradigm

The National Research Council framework with four steps: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization, separate from risk management.

SMART objectives

Program objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, allowing clear tracking of progress toward intended health or process outcomes.

PDSA cycle

Plan-Do-Study-Act, a quality improvement method that tests small changes, studies the results, and then adapts, adopts, or abandons the change before scaling it.

Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio

The difference in cost between two interventions divided by the difference in health outcome, such as cost per quality-adjusted life-year gained; a lower ratio indicates better value.