Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Epidemiology and biostatistics are the foundations of public health science and practice. Together, these fields focus on planning and executing research and evaluation studies and using information about risk factors and cause to shape programs and policies. Disability should be defined as a state that is largely independent of health and health status. Asdescribed in the World Health Organization model of disability (the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health), disability is a state that is inexorably connected to the environment in which people live. That is, with a properly functioning social, built, and policy environment, a person with disability would also function well and would enjoy improved health outcomes. Therefore, disability epidemiology provides a rich opportunity to apply the concepts and methods of epidemiology and biostatistics since it requires attention to pragmatic problems in field research, precise definitions of disability and health, and utilizing a theoretical model that considers risk factors across multiple levels of personal and environmental influences. Several federal data sources in the United States are available with which to conduct descriptive and analytic studies of disability. Ideally, disability epidemiology will occur within a participatory action framework that incorporates the preferences and perspectives of people living with disability from study design through dissemination. Researchers also should consider the communication or cognitive impairments that study participants may experience when designing the study and consent process to assure both broad inclusion and the ethical conduct of studies within disability epidemiology.