Enarson D A, Kennedy S M, Miller D L
Scientific Activities, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris, France.
Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2004 Jul;8(7):915-9.
The goal of health research is to develop new knowledge for action to improve health. Relevant health research includes study of diseases, their causes and their treatment/prevention as well as structure and utilisation of health services and policies to improve lung health. As resources are not infinite, priorities must be established. These are determined by the relative frequency of a condition, how much dysfunction or disability it produces and whether there are cost-effective means to deal with it. Epidemiology is the discipline used to address these issues. Using it, one can describe the distribution and relative importance of a condition (the descriptive study), identify determinants and define its natural history (the analytical study), assess methods of prevention, cure and amelioration (the experimental study) and evaluate the process and outcome of services (health services or operational research). Epidemiology addresses itself to determining causation among associated variables. Characteristics associated with causation include consistency, strength of association, specificity, dose response, temporal relationship, coherence, and experimental evidence. Epidemiology can truly be described as the 'basic science of public health.' When used strategically, it can create the new knowledge that is the cornerstone for improving the health of the whole population.
健康研究的目标是开发新知识，以便采取行动改善健康状况。相关的健康研究包括对疾病、其病因及其治疗/预防的研究，以及对改善肺部健康的卫生服务和政策的结构与利用情况的研究。由于资源并非无限，因此必须确定优先事项。这些优先事项由某种疾病的相对发病率、其所导致的功能障碍或残疾程度，以及是否存在具有成本效益的应对措施来决定。流行病学就是用于解决这些问题的学科。运用流行病学，人们可以描述某种疾病的分布情况及其相对重要性（描述性研究），确定其决定因素并界定其自然史（分析性研究），评估预防、治疗和改善的方法（实验性研究），以及评估服务的过程和结果（卫生服务或运筹学研究）。流行病学致力于确定相关变量之间的因果关系。与因果关系相关的特征包括一致性、关联强度、特异性、剂量反应、时间关系、连贯性以及实验证据。流行病学可真正被描述为“公共卫生的基础科学”。若能战略性地运用它，就能创造出新知识，而这些新知识是改善全体人口健康状况的基石。
