Dermatoepidemiology; what's up people?

Abstract

The term ‘epidemiology’ originates from the Greek language and literally means ‘the study of what is upon the people’. There are many more modern definitions of epidemiology such as ‘the study of the distribution and determinants of disease frequency in human populations’.1 The relationship between epidemiology and public health is close. Epidemiology focuses on the pathogenesis of the disease, i.e. determinants. Public health primarily aims at prevention, evaluation of care and medical decisionmaking. Epidemiology is frequently described as the ‘basic science of public health’ and is, in conjunction with health economics and social sciences, the methodological backbone for public health. The exciting aspect of epidemiology is that it is often exploratory and hypothesis generating. However, for observational research to become ‘real’, the findings need to be replicated in other populations, further explained by laboratory research and evaluated by clinical research. Although the realm is very broad‐ranging, from understanding pathogenesis to informing disease control and prevention, at the BJD we are very interested in clinical epidemiological studies that have the patients’ benefit in mind (Fig. 1).