Capacity building
Definition: Capacity building in public health refers to the process of developing and strengthening the skills, knowledge, structures, and resources…
Read DefinitionPublic Health Glossary
Decode complex terminology and master the language of public health.
Care coordination
Definition: Care coordination is the deliberate organization of patient care activities between two or more participants (including the patient) involved…
Read DefinitionCarrier state
Definition: A carrier state refers to the condition where an individual harbors an infectious pathogen without exhibiting symptoms of the…
Read DefinitionCase definition
Definition: A case definition is a set of standard criteria used to classify whether a person has a particular disease,…
Read DefinitionCase fatality rate
Definition: The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is the proportion of individuals diagnosed with a specific disease who die from that…
Read DefinitionCase management
Definition: Case management in public health is a collaborative process that assesses, plans, facilitates, coordinates, evaluates, and advocates for services…
Read DefinitionCase-control study
Definition: A case-control study is an observational epidemiological study that compares individuals with a specific disease or outcome (cases) to…
Read DefinitionCase-mix
Definition: Case-mix refers to the distribution of patients treated by a healthcare provider or system, characterized by factors such as…
Read DefinitionCatchment area
Definition: The geographical area from which a public health service, facility, or program draws its primary population of users or…
Read DefinitionCausality
Definition: Causality in public health refers to the relationship where one event or factor (the cause) directly contributes to the…
Read DefinitionCensoring
Definition: Censoring, in public health and biostatistics, refers to the situation where the exact time of an event of interest…
Read DefinitionCentral tendency
Definition: Central tendency refers to a statistical measure that identifies a single value as representative of an entire distribution, aiming…
Read DefinitionChain of infection
Definition: The chain of infection is an epidemiological model illustrating the six interconnected links necessary for an infectious agent to…
Read DefinitionChi-square test
Definition: The Chi-square (χ²) test is a non-parametric statistical hypothesis test used to determine if there is a statistically significant…
Read DefinitionChild mortality
Definition: Child mortality refers to the death of children before reaching a specific age, most commonly before their fifth birthday…
Read DefinitionChronic disease
Definition: Chronic diseases are long-lasting conditions that are generally not curable but are manageable, often progressing over time and requiring…
Read DefinitionCircadian rhythm
Definition: A circadian rhythm is an intrinsic, approximately 24-hour cycle that regulates various physiological and behavioral processes in living organisms,…
Read DefinitionClassification bias
Definition: Classification bias refers to a systematic error in the categorization or assignment of individuals or data points into groups,…
Read DefinitionClearance rate
Definition: The clearance rate quantifies the volume of blood or plasma from which a substance (such as a drug, toxin,…
Read DefinitionClimate change and health
Definition: Climate change and health refers to the study of how shifts in global climate patterns, primarily driven by human…
Read DefinitionClinical epidemiology
Definition: Clinical epidemiology is the application of epidemiological principles and methods to questions of clinical practice and patient care, aiming…
Read DefinitionClinical trial
Definition: A clinical trial is a research study conducted in human volunteers to evaluate the safety and efficacy of new…
Read DefinitionClosed population
Definition: A closed population is a group of individuals whose membership is fixed over a specified period, meaning no new…
Read DefinitionCluster sampling
Definition: Cluster sampling is a probability sampling technique where the population is divided into naturally occurring, heterogeneous groups called clusters,…
Read DefinitionCo-morbidity
Definition: Co-morbidity refers to the simultaneous presence of two or more medical conditions or diseases in a patient. These conditions…
Read DefinitionCoding (health informatics)
Definition: Coding in health informatics is the systematic process of transforming healthcare diagnoses, procedures, services, and equipment into standardized alphanumeric…
Read DefinitionCognitive function
Definition: Cognitive function refers to the mental processes that enable individuals to acquire, process, store, and retrieve information, including attention,…
Read DefinitionCohort study
Definition: A cohort study is an observational epidemiological study design where a defined group of individuals (a cohort) is followed…
Read DefinitionCold chain
Definition: The cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain system designed to maintain the optimal temperature range for perishable products,…
Read DefinitionCollinearity
Definition: Collinearity, in the context of public health statistical modeling, refers to a situation where two or more independent (predictor)…
Read DefinitionCommon source outbreak
Definition: A common source outbreak occurs when a group of individuals are exposed to a shared harmful agent, such as…
Read DefinitionCommunicable disease
Definition: A communicable disease is an illness caused by a specific infectious agent or its toxic products, which arises through…
Read DefinitionCommunicable period
Definition: The communicable period is the time interval during which an infected individual or animal is capable of transmitting an…
Read DefinitionCommunity diagnosis
Definition: Community diagnosis is a systematic process of identifying and describing the health problems, needs, and assets of a defined…
Read DefinitionCommunity health
Definition: Community health refers to the health status of a defined group of people and the collective actions and conditions,…
Read DefinitionCommunity-based participatory research
Definition: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a collaborative research approach that equitably involves community members and academic researchers in all…
Read DefinitionCompeting risks
Definition: Competing risks refer to situations where an individual is at risk of experiencing multiple distinct events, but the occurrence…
Read DefinitionCompliance (adherence)
Definition: Compliance, often used interchangeably with adherence, refers to the extent to which an individual's behavior (e.g., taking medication, following…
Read DefinitionConditional probability
Definition: Conditional probability is the likelihood of an event occurring, given that another event has already occurred. It refines our…
Read DefinitionConfidence interval
Definition: A confidence interval (CI) is a range of values, derived from sample data, that is likely to contain the…
Read DefinitionConfounding variable
Definition: A confounding variable is a third variable that is associated with both the exposure (independent variable) and the outcome…
Read DefinitionConsent
Definition: Consent in public health refers to a voluntary agreement by an individual, or their legally authorized representative, to participate…
Read DefinitionContact tracing
Definition: Contact tracing is a core public health intervention involving the identification, assessment, and management of individuals who have been…
Read DefinitionContamination (public health)
Definition: Contamination in public health refers to the presence of undesirable substances or agents (biological, chemical, physical, or radiological) in…
Read DefinitionControl group
Definition: A control group is a group of participants in a study who do not receive the intervention, treatment, or…
Read DefinitionCost-effectiveness analysis
Definition: Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is an economic evaluation method that compares the costs of different health interventions with their health…
Read DefinitionCross-sectional study
Definition: A cross-sectional study is a type of observational study that analyzes data from a population, or a representative subset,…
Read DefinitionCrude mortality rate
Definition: The crude mortality rate is the total number of deaths in a population over a specified period, divided by…
Read DefinitionCultural competence
Definition: Cultural competence is the ability of individuals and organizations to understand, appreciate, and effectively interact with people from diverse…
Read DefinitionCumulative incidence
Definition: Cumulative incidence is the proportion of a disease-free population that develops a new disease over a specified period of…
Read Definition