N.I. Briko
I. M. Sechenov First Moscow Medical University, Тhe Ministry of Health, Russian Federation
This article presents the stages of development of epidemiology and off ers their brief characteristics. We discuss the key issues pertaining to the defi nition of the object, subject and methods of epidemiology at each stage. A defi – nition and characteristics are given to the epidemiological approach towards studying the human diseases. We review the structure and contents of modern epidemiology as a fundamental medical science, relating to the area of preventive medicine, the subject of which includes the entirety of human pathology – infectious and non-infectious. The paradigm of modern epidemiology is analyzed from the theoretical, practical and educational positions. We emphasize the importance of clinical epidemiology and evidence-based medicine in solving the problems in medicine at the organismic and population levels.
Keywords: epidemiology, incidence, paradigm, conception, globalization, evidence-based medicine
