Ness Roberta B, Andrews Elizabeth B, Gaudino James A, Newman Anne B, Soskolne Colin L, Stürmer Til, Wartenberg Daniel E, Weiss Stanley H
Joint Policy Committee, Societies of Epidemiology, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Acad Med. 2009 Nov;84(11):1631-7. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181bbb4ed.
In this article, the authors discuss current challenges and opportunities in epidemiology that will affect the field's future. Epidemiology is commonly considered the methodologic backbone for the fields of public health and outcomes research because its practitioners describe patterns of disease occurrence, identify risk factors and etiologic determinants, and demonstrate the usefulness of interventions. Like most aspects of science, epidemiology is in rapid flux. Several factors that are influencing and will continue to influence epidemiology and the health of the public include factors fundamental to framing the discipline of epidemiology (i.e., its means of communication, its methodologies, its access to data, its values, its population perspective), factors relating to scientific advances (e.g., genomics, comparative effectiveness in therapeutics), and factors shaping human health (e.g., increasing globalism, the environment, disease and lifestyle, demographics, infectious disease).
在本文中，作者讨论了流行病学当前面临的挑战和机遇，这些挑战和机遇将影响该领域的未来。流行病学通常被视为公共卫生和结果研究领域的方法学支柱，因为其从业者描述疾病发生模式，识别风险因素和病因决定因素，并证明干预措施的有效性。与科学的大多数方面一样，流行病学正处于快速变化之中。影响并将继续影响流行病学和公众健康的几个因素包括构成流行病学学科基础的因素（即其交流方式、方法、数据获取、价值观、人群视角）、与科学进步相关的因素（如基因组学、治疗学中的比较疗效）以及塑造人类健康的因素（如日益全球化、环境、疾病与生活方式、人口统计学、传染病）。
