Problem
1) Perform a search in the Walden Library and identify at least two recent scholarly articles (no older than 3 years of publication) related to the health issue you have chosen.
2) Perform a search of sources of data provided to you in the Learning Resources to identify data relevant to the Whooping cough.
3) Review the following scenario:
a) Imagine that you work for a state health department monitoring trends in the occurrence of various reportable infectious diseases, as well as major chronic diseases. As you compare this year's trends with last year's, you notice an increase in the occurrence of the disease that you chose.
Keep in mind, that some factors may cause an increase in incidence but, not necessarily, represent a true increase nor an epidemic.
With this scenario in mind,
1) Identify and describe at least two factors that might lead to an increase of new cases (incidence) Whooping cough but not represent an outbreak or epidemic. Explain your thinking.
a) Example factors include screenings, testing, changes in diagnostic criteria, policies, laws, campaigns, etc.
2) Identify and describe the descriptive epidemiologic factors (person/place/time) you would use to evaluate populations at risk (i.e., what factors are relevant for Whooping cough within the categories of person, place, and time). Using the scholarly resources that you identified, support and explain your thinking.
3) Identify and explain who is more at-risk for the Whooping cough based on the epidemiologic factors. Provide data and statistical evidence from the sources you identified to support your response.