Enigmas of Health and Disease

How Epidemiology Helps Unravel Scientific Mysteries

Alfredo Morabia

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN:
  9780231537674
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Diseases & Allergies

This book is the principal account of epidemiology's role in the development of effective measures to identify, prevent, and treat diseases. Throughout history, epidemiologists have challenged conventional knowledge, elucidating mysteries of causality and paving the way for remedies. From the outbreak of the bubonic plague, cholera, and cancer to the search for an effective treatment of AIDS and the origins of Alzheimer's disease, epidemiological thought has been crucial in shaping our understanding of population health issues.

Alfredo Morabia's lucid retelling sheds new light on the historical triumphs of epidemiological research and allows for contemporary readers, patients, and nontechnical audiences to make sense of the immense amount of health information disseminated by the media. By drawing from both historical and contemporary sources, Morabia provides the reader with the tools to differentiate health beliefs from health knowledge. The book covers important topics, including the H1N1 swine flu epidemic, breast cancer, the effects of aspirin, and the link between cigarettes and lung cancer.

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Epigraph
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents 
• Preface to the English Edition
• Prologue: A Science Named Epidemiology
• 1. Comparing Groups and the Fifth Dimension
• 2. People, Bugs, and Epidemics
• 3. Plague’s Shark Teeth and Seamen’s Enigmatic Exhaustion
• 4. The Mystery of the Blue Death
• 5. The Numerical Method
• 6. Eugenics, Oysters, Sour Skin, and Breast Cancer
• 7. Tobacco and Health: The Great Controversy
• 8. Daily Life Mysteries and Epidemiology
• 9. Is This Treatment Dangerous for Health?
• 10. Does the Treatment Work?
• 11. What Is the Optimal Medical Decision?
• 12. Health Risk or Health Benefit?
• 13. Is This Screening Useful?
• 14. Group Comparisons Also Fail
• 15. Epidemiologic Literacy and “Earthly Self-Realization”
• 16. Beyond Epidemiology
• Epilogue: The End of Epidemiology?
• Appendix 1: Interaction of Causes
• Appendix 2: Odds Ratio and Risk Ratio
• Appendix 3: Why Cohort and Case–Control Studies Concur
• Appendix 4: Where Do the Cases of Lung Cancer Come From?
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index