Week One Assignment[WLOs: 3, 4] [CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4] This week’s assignment will focus on changes in the causes of death over the past century and help you develop skill in calculating important epidemi

Week One Assignment[WLOs: 3, 4] [CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4]

This week’s assignment will focus on changes in the causes of death over the past century and help you develop skill in calculating important epidemiological statistics. To answer the assignment questions, refer to your required readings and to Table 2A-1, which appears on Page 103 of the Friis and Sellers (2014) textbook and is reproduced below.

Table 2A–1  

Leading Causes of Death and Rates for Those Causes in 1900 and 2009, United States

Rate per 100,000 Population

Rank

1900

Cause of Death1

1900

20092

All causes

1,719.1

793.7

 1

Influenza and pneumonia, except pneumonia of newborn

202.2

17.5

 2

Tuberculosis, all forms

194.4

NA3

 3

Diarrhea and enteritis

139.9

NA

 4

Disease of heart

137.4

195.0

 5

Cerebrovascular diseases

106.9

 41.9

 6

Chronic nephritis

81.0

 15.9

 7

Accidents and adverse effects

72.3

 38.2

 8

Malignant neoplasms

64.0

185.2

 9

Senility

50.2

NA

10

Diphtheria

40.3

NA

In your Week One assignment, please answer the following questions:

1. Calculate the percentage decline in the death rate for all causes. What generalizations can be made about changes in disease rates that have occurred between 1900 and the present?
2. Contrast the changes in death rates due to cancer, heart disease, and cerebrovascular diseases. What additional information would be useful to better specify the changes in these conditions? Calculate the percentage decline in the death rate for all causes. What generalizations can be made about changes in disease rates that have occurred between 1900 and the present?
3. Note the decline in mortality for the four communicable diseases (rankings 1, 2, 3, and 10) since 1900. With the exception of pneumonia and influenza, these are no longer among the 10 leading causes of death. Can you speculate regarding how much of each is due to environmental improvements and how much is due to specific preventive and curative practices?
4. Among the 10 leading causes of death in 2009 were chronic lower respiratory diseases (44.7 per 100,000—rank 3), diabetes (22.3 per 100,000—rank 7), Alzheimer’s disease (25.7 per 100,000—rank 6), and suicide (11.9 per 100,000—rank 10). (Note: Data are not shown in Table 2A–1.) In 1900, these were not among the 10 leading causes of death. How do you account for these changes?

The Week One Assignment must

• Be two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA styleLinks to an external site. as outlined in the UAGC Writing CenterLinks to an external site.. The length of your response should be sufficient to answer each question fully.
• Show calculations for solving problems using an equation editor, a clear photo, or scan of legible pen or pencil calculations saved either as an image and inserted into your assignment document or attached as a .pdf file. If doing the later, your .pdf image should be descriptively named using the following format: lastnamefirstinitialWeek1AssignmentQuestion.pdf. For example, John Snow would save his file as jsnowWeek1AssignmentQuestionA.pdf.
• Must include a separate title pageLinks to an external site. with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

Carefully review the Grading RubricLinks to an external site. for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.