This volume explores the history of epidemiology from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Epidemiology has exerted major influence on the way that both infectious and chronic diseases are conceptualized and controlled, and, more generally, on the way that people in modern societies think about health, behavior, longevity, and risk. This collection consists of a series of in-depth analyses of the roots, development, and impact of epidemiological research, illuminating the complex relationship between medical research and data on the one hand, and social and cultural factors on the other. The thematical and geographical scope of the book ranges from indigenous and participant perspectives to the visualization of pandemics, and from Circumpolar North to East Africa. The book identifies significant historical changes and the driving forces behind them, charting forms of science-society interaction that characterize modern epidemiology. Chapter 1 and chapter 4 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Author(s): Heini Hakosalo, Katariina Parhi, Annukka Sailo
Series: Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 271
City: Cham
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
1 Introduction: The Past Continuous of Epidemiology
What Do We Study When We Study the History of Epidemiology?
Historiography of Epidemiology
Book Outline
Part I Patterns
2 Patterning Tuberculosis: Interwar Tuberculosis Research as a Bridge Between Infectious and Risk Factor Epidemiology
From “Sickness Census” to Prevalence Rates
From “Socio-Hygienic Experiments” to Community Interventions
From Generations to Cohorts
Why Tuberculosis
Conclusions
3 The Case–Control Method on Trial: The “Bermuda Summit Peace Conference” (1978)
The Development of the Case–Control Method
The Controversies of the Bermuda Conference
The Legacy of the Conference in Epidemiology and Medicine
Conclusion
4 The Coexistent Temporalities: Multilayered Ethics in Birth Cohort Studies
Introduction
The Role of Research Ethics Committees
From Implied to Informed Consent
Data Protection
Keeping the Participants Informed
Conclusion
Part II Populations
5 The Oxford Nutrition Survey (1941–1950): Its Rise and Fall Under Hugh Sinclair
Introduction
The Rise of Nutritional Surveys
Surveys in Oxford and Beyond
The Demise of the Nutrition Institute
Conclusion: Sinclair’s Legacy
6 Spotlighted or Hidden in Plain Sight: Consequences of the Post-War Ban on Ethnic Registration in Sweden
Ethnicity and Statistics Before 1945
Working Around the Ban—Post-War Research Strategies
Who Is Ethnic? Post-War Studies on the Roma
The Socio-Medical Gypsy Study
Conclusion
7 Risk Factor Epidemiology Viewed from Below: Lay Reception of the North Karelia Project (Finland) in the 1970s and Early 1980s
Introduction
Risk Factor Epidemiology and Finland
Encountering Epidemiological Research
Inclusion Criteria: Random Residents vs. Individuals with Medical Needs
Standardized Members of a Population vs. Individual Cases
Scientific Study on Prevention vs. Help for Present Health Problems
Understanding the Response of the Local Residents
8 From Colonial Medicine to Global Health: Epidemiologies of Sexually Transmitted Infections in East and Central Africa
Introduction: Epidemiologies and Histories of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV in Africa
Production of Medical Knowledge in Africa—Colonial and Post-Colonial
Colonial Epidemiologies: Fears and Stereotyping
The New Global Epidemiology of STIs and Africa
Discovery of AIDS in Africa
Clinical Epidemiology vs. Seroepidemiology
Seroepidemiology, Political Backlash, and the Pattern II Epidemic
Conclusion
Part III Pathologies
9 Light Pollution: Auroral Displays, Environmental Carcinogens, and Epidemiological Imaginings of Inuit Cancer
Cold, Dark, and Dangerous
Solar Storms, Space Physics, and Settler Science
The Politics of Pollutants
From Light Pollution to Sound Activism
10 Scientized Politics: The Finnish Basic Income Trial as a Quest for Experimental Truth
Nudging for Better Living
Practical Theories for Behavioral Modification
Test, Learn, Adapt: RCT as a Policy Tool
The BI Trial as a Quest for Experimental Truth
The Scientization of Politics
11 Virus-Imagery: A Short History of Pandemic Mis-Representation, HIV to COVID-19
Introduction
Virus Visualization: A Brief Primer
The “Face of the Killer”: Visualizing AIDS
A Picture of COVID-19
Afterword: History and Epidemiology in the Age of COVID-19
Index
