What type of research is epidemiology concerned with?

Epidemiology is fundamentally concerned with understanding how diseases disseminate within populations and the impact they have on various demographic groups. It focuses on trends, patterns, and factors that contribute to health and illness, enabling public health officials and researchers to identify risk factors and implement strategies for disease prevention and control. This type of research examines not only the incidence and prevalence of diseases but also the social, environmental, and biological determinants that affect health outcomes within a community or population.

Other types of research, such as clinical or environmental studies, concentrate on narrower scopes like individual patient treatments or the effects of chemicals, which do not encompass the broader population-level implications that are central to epidemiological research. Similarly, the development of new medical technologies is a distinct field that does not focus on the distribution or determinants of health-related states. Thus, the essence of epidemiology lies in investigating the relationships and behaviors of diseases within defined populations.