Epidemiological Research in Total Communities: Settings and Perspectives^{[*] [**]}

Problems of epidemiological research into the causes of disease and questions relating to medical care can both be studied with advantage either in a representative sample of the population or in a community in its totality. The advantages and shortcomings of the sample approach and the total community operation have been contrasted and discussed. The ecological orientation of total community studies has been described in some detail; an actual example of such a study was given. The essential unity of medical research and medical practice in community health was stressed.

Epidemiologische Forschungsprobleme in Bezug auf die Aetiologie von Krankheiten sowie Fragen, die die Krankenbehandlung betreffen, können entweder in Stichproben der Bevölkerung, oder aber auch in ganzen Bevölkerungsgruppen untersucht werden. Die Vorzüge und Nachteile dieser beiden Methoden werden einander gegenübergestellt. Die ökologische Orientierung von Untersuchungen in ganzen Bevölkerungsgruppen wird eingehend dargelegt und ein Musterbeispiel einer solchen Studie beschrieben. In der öffentlichen Gesundheitspflege sollten akademische Forschung und ärztliches Handeln eine wesentliche Einheit bilden.

^* To Prof. Paul Martini on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

^* Some of the thoughts discussed in this paper were presented at a Seminar in the Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, in February, 1962.

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