Description

Epidemiology 1 (POPH90014)

Assignment 1: Due Sunday 5th April 2020 at 5 pm.

This assignment counts for 30% of the mark for the subject.

Total marks for this assignment: 80

Submit your assignment via the Assessment tab in Canvas.

Word limit:      1500 words.  You are permitted to exceed this count by 150 words.  If your assignment is longer than 1650 words, you will be penalized 10% for every 150 words you exceed it by.  For example, if your assignment is 1700 words, you will be penalized 10%, and if it is 2000 words, you will be penalized 30%.
Please include a word count. 
Some of the questions below tell you what not to include in the word count.  If a question has no such instructions, then include its answer in the word count.
Do not include any graphs or figures in your word count.

Notes on completing this assignment:

•         Create a new document.  Do not include a cover page and do not put your name on your assignment.

•         Don’t repeat the questions in your completed assignment.  Just number each answer.

•         Answer the questions in order.

•         Use 12-point font except in Table 1, where you should use 10-point.

•         For questions that require calculation, show formulae and all your working unless otherwise instructed.

•         Your answers should be brief.  You can use dot points where appropriate.

•          We use “contingent” marking, which means that if your answer to a question is wrong, we do not deduct marks for subsequent answers that make use of the first answer.

•          There is no need to cite the Victorian Cancer Registry, the ABS or the Global Cancer Observatory.

This assignment is about cancer of the cervix uteri (which we will refer to as cervical cancer), which is almost exclusively due to infection by certain types of the human papilloma virus (HPV).  Most HPV infections clear quickly, but some persistent infections can lead to the development of cervical cancer.

In 2007, Australia was the first country to introduce a vaccine to prevent HPV infection.  You can read about the vaccine here.  Using a combination of the vaccine and screening for HPV, the World Health Organization has set a goal to eliminate cervical cancer.

For the first part of the assignment, you will perform calculations using data on cervical cancer incidence from 2009-2013 obtained from the Victorian Cancer Registry. The Registry records details of all cancers diagnosed in Victoria.

We wish to compare incidence by an area-based measure of social disadvantage. The Australian Bureau of Statistics uses census data to construct indices of social disadvantage.  One of these, which we use here, is called the Index of Relative Social Disadvantage (IRSD).

Table 1 shows data on number of cases of cervical cancer by quintile of social disadvantage.  We have restricted the table to the most and least disadvantaged quintiles and to women 25 years or older because there were few younger cases.

Table 1:           Cervical cancer in Victoria from 2009-2013, by age and area-based quintile of social disadvantage.

1          Most disadvantaged quintile and least disadvantaged quintile

2          Per XXX

3          All ages 25+

The population data necessary to calculate the rates are given in Table 2.

Table 2:           Female population in the most and least disadvantaged areas in Victoria, by year.