INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN DISEASE COURSEWORK GUIDELINES -

Summarise the trends in incidence and/or mortality over the past 10 years for ONE specific infective or non-infective disease (i.e. tuberculosis, melanoma, Alzheimer's, diabetes, etc.). Discuss the factors responsible for any trends in incidence/mortality observed for this specific disease: patient(s) age, gender, background, lifestyle habit(s), symptom(s), treatment(s), and any other relevant information.

The aim of this assignment is to familiarise yourself with reviewing and presenting scientific work, and the use of different databases on health and disease. Office for National Statistics (ONS) publications such as Annual Abstract of Statistics and Social Trends are particularly useful sources; also the Public Health England web site or the World Health Organization website, but you may use any suitable data sources at Roehampton or elsewhere.

The assignment should consist of:

1. A very brief introduction to the disease, its causes and its relative importance in public health terms.

2. A display of the data collected - tables and preferably a suitable graphical representation, showing trends. You must make clear which population(s) are being considered (for example, England and Wales, the U.K., the World).

3. A brief discussion commenting on any causal/associated factors. Evaluate, compare, contrast and discuss information from various sources.

4. References - these must be correctly listed and cited. Guidance on referencing is given in the Biosciences and Health General Handbook and on Moodle.

Other points:

The time span suggested (10 years) is flexible. It may be that a longer period would give a more balanced picture for the disease chosen, but 40 years is the absolute maximum - a historical review of a disease is not appropriate.

You do not have to confine yourself to diseases in the UK, but these are the only ones covered by ONS and PHE statistics. However, there are equivalent data recording systems in many other countries. It is probably best, at this stage, to avoid selecting obscure diseases for which access to specialist texts and sources may be very difficult.

Note - WORD LIMIT:  1500 Words, REFERENCING STYLE:  Harvard.

Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar