Question

You are an epidemiologist working for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. It has come to your attention that there is an increase in the number of heart attacks in New York City in the last 10 years. You are interested on studying whether people’s dietary habits have changed and whether that has an impact on rates of heart attacks. The first thing you want to do is an ecologic study to determine whether this is a question worth pursuing. You have access to data from the Business Bureau about types of stores present in NYC neighborhoods, as well as amounts of money spent in each one.

questions

1.Formulate a hypothesis for the next study you want to do with the same main research question.

2. What measure of association will you calculate? How will you know if your exposure/s is/are a risk factor for the disease?

3. Assuming you find evidence that supports your hypothesis, what are the next steps you might want to take to make sure that your exposure does indeed cause the disease?

Answer 1

1) In research studies hypothesis is defined as a statement framed by the researcher based on their assumptions. Hypothesis is of two types commonly used in nursing research Null hypothesis and research hypotheses. Ecological is a kind of research study done for a group of population. In the given scenario the framed statement is A ecological study to assess the relationship between people's dietary habits and its impact on heart attacks.

Null Hypotheses : There is no significant relationship between dietary habits and incidence rate of heart attack among people residing in New york city.

Research Hypotheses : There is a significant relationship between dietary habits and incidence rate of heart attack among people residing in New york city.

2) Measure of association is defined as the statistical means to measures or evaluate the strength of relationship between two variables given in the research study. In this study dietary habits and incident rate of heart disease is considered as variables.

Chi square test is used in this study to analyze association between two variables. It is written as X2. Degrees of freedom,observed value and expected value are used to work out on chi square.

Based on the findings null hypotheses or research hypotheses can either accepted or rejected.

3) The study findings reveals there is a significant relationship between dietary factors and incidence of heart attacks the next step as a researcher to initiate the preventive measures by creating awareness among population to understand the importance of healthy diet, Periodical nutritional guidance program initiated to reduce the prevalence of heart disease among the group. Healthy heart friendly diet rich in green, cereals,pulses and avoiding junk foods, packed foods, carbonated beverages.