☰ Menu

Home

Glossary of terms used in health research - S

A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W    Y    Z

  • Safe sex
    • MeSH
      Sexual behavior that prevents or reduces the spread of sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy.
  • Safety
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Safety is the state of being "safe" (from French sauf), the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be considered non-desirable.
      Freedom from exposure to danger and protection from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss. It suggests optimal precautions in the workplace, on the street, in the home, etc., and includes personal safety as well as the safety of property.
  • Safety and tolerability
    • The safety of a medical product concerns the medical risk to the subject, usually assessed in a clinical trial by laboratory tests (including clinical chemistry and hematology), vital signs, clinical adverse events (diseases, signs and symptoms), and other special safety tests (e.g. ECGs, ophthalmology). The tolerability of the medical product represents the degree to which overt adverse effects can be tolerated by the subject.
  • Safety management
    • MeSH
      The development of systems to prevent accidents, injuries, and other adverse occurrences in an institutional setting. The concept includes prevention or reduction of adverse events or incidents involving employees, patients, or facilities. Examples include plans to reduce injuries from falls or plans for fire safety to promote a safe institutional environment.
  • Safety monitoring
    • Wikipedia
      Safety monitoring of a clinical trial is conducted by an independent physician with relevant expertise. This is accomplished by review of adverse event, immediately after they occur, with timely follow-up through resolution.
  • Safety of an intervention
    • Refers to serious adverse effects, such as those that threaten life, require or prolong hospitalization, result in permanent disability, or cause birth defects. Indirect adverse effects, such as traffic accidents, violence, and damaging consequences of mood change, can also be serious.
  • Sample
    • Wikipedia
      A subset selected for the study from the larger population.
      A selected subset of a population. A sample may be random or non-random and it may be representative or non-representative.
  • Sample size
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The sample size of a statistical sample is the number of observations that constitute it. It is typically denoted n, a positive integer (natural number).
      The number of participants in the trial. The intended sample size is the number of participants planned to be included in the trial, usually determined using a statistical power calculation. The sample size should be adequate to provide a high probability of detecting as significant an effect size of a given magnitude if such an effect actually exists. The achieved sample size is the number of participants enrolled, treated or analyzed in the study.
      The number of units (persons, animals, patients, specified circumstances, etc.) in a population to be studied. The sample size should be big enough to have a high likelihood of detecting a true difference between two groups.
  • Sampling bias
    • Wikipedia
      In statistics sampling bias is causing some members of the population to be less likely to be included than others. It results in a biased sample, a non-random sample of a population (or non-human factors) in which all participants are not equally balanced or objectively represented. If the bias makes estimation of population parameters impossible, the sample is a non-probability sample. If this is not accounted for, results can be erroneously attributed to the phenomenon under study rather than to the method of sampling It is a form of sampling error, that is, an error caused by observing a sample instead of the whole population. However, sampling error also includes non-systematic errors that can be decreased by increasing sample size. It is also called ascertainment bias. Ascertainment bias has basically the same definition, but is still sometimes classified as a separate type of bias.
  • Sampling design
    • Wikipedia
      Method by which households to be sampled are selected within the target population.
  • Sampling error
    • Wikipedia
      The discrepancy between the values obtained from the relatively small sample and the larger population from which the sample was drawn.
  • Sampling frame
    • Wikipedia
      List of households, or sub-sections of the study area/population, used to allocate clusters or select households to be sampled.
  • Sampling studies
    • MeSH
      Studies in which a number of subjects are selected from all subjects in a defined population. Conclusions based on sample results may be attributed only to the population sampled.
  • Scarcity
    • Wikipedia
      Provides the raison d'étre for economics because if there were no scarcity then there would be no need to make difficult resource allocation decisions. Scarcity is a relative concept. Resources may be plentiful in absolute terms but appear scarce when our ability to promote health exceeds our resource capacity to do so. That is, scarcity exists when the claims on resources (that is, wants or needs) outstrip the resources available.
  • Scatter diagram
    • Wikipedia
      A graph displaying the scatter of the relationship between two variables. The scatter diagram gives an indication of whether a correlation may exist and its direction.
      A graph in which each dot represents paired values for two continuous variables, with the x-axis representing one variable and the y-axis representing the other; used to display the relationship between the two variables; also called a scattergram.
  • Scenario
    • Wikipedia
      An account or synopsis of a possible course of events that could occur, which forms the basis for planning assumptions (for example, a river floods, covering a nearby town and wiping out the local population's crop). Scenario-building is process of developing hypothetical scenarios in the context of a contingency planning exercise.
  • Scientific misconduct
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in professional scientific research.
      A class of ethical violations in the conduct of research, generally taken to include falsification, fabrication, fraud, or plagiarism in the proposal, design, implementation, reporting, or review of research, but may also be taken to include violation of the rights and dignity of participants in research, misuse of research funds, and mistreatment of scientific colleagues.
      Intentional falsification of scientific data by presentation of fraudulent or incomplete or uncorroborated findings as scientific fact.
  • Screening
    • Wikipedia
      Screening, in medicine, is a strategy used in a population to detect a disease in individuals without signs or symptoms of that disease.
  • Screening trials
    • Wikipedia
      Refers to trials which test the best way to detect certain diseases or health conditions.
  • Search bias
    • It is related to the language bias. It is the systematic error introduced when the search of studies is centered in just one database (for example, Medline). Journals written in English are overrepresented in Medline; furthermore, the journals from the country (and from neighboring countries or either countries of similar language or culture) where the database is done are also represented in excess. It is recommended to consult more than one database (for example, Medline and Embase), supplemented by a hand search of the references of each publication collected.
  • Seasonality
    • Wikipedia
      In statistics, many time series exhibit cyclic variation known as seasonality, periodic variation, or periodic fluctuations. This variation can be either regular or semiregular.
      Change in physiological status or in disease occurrence that conforms to a regular seasonal pattern.
  • Second trimester pregnancy
    • MeSH
      The middle third of a human pregnancy, from the beginning of the 15th through the 28th completed week (99 to 196 days) of gestation.
  • Secondary attack rate
    • A measure of the frequency of new cases of a disease among the contacts of known cases.
  • Secondary care
    • Wikipedia
      Medical care provided to a patient when referred by one health professional to another with more specialized qualifications or interests. There are two levels of referred care: secondary and tertiary. Secondary care is usually provided by a broadly skilled specialist such as a general surgeon, general internist or obstetrician.
      Specialized ambulatory medical services and commonplace hospital care (outpatient and inpatient services). Access is often via referral from primary health care services.
      Also called secondary health care.
  • Secondary data
    • Wikipedia
      Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, surveys, organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research.
  • Secondary infecundity
    • Percentage of women with no births and no pregnancies in the past five years but who have had a birth or pregnancy at some time, among women who have been married for the past five years but did not use contraception during that period.
  • Secondary infertility
    • Secondary infertility means that the couple has previously conceived, but is subsequently unable to conceive despite regular unprotected intercourse for a period of 12 months (medical definition). If the woman has breastfed a previous infant, then exposure to pregnancy is calculated from the end of lactational amenorrhea.
      Percentage of women with no births in the past five years but who have had a birth at some time, among women who have been married for the past five years and did not use contraception during that period (demographic definition).
  • Secondary outcome
    • An outcome used to evaluate additional effects of the intervention deemed a priori as being less important than the primary outcomes.
  • Secondary prevention
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Interruption of the chain of causality at a point where physiological or psychological abnormality is present but before there is manifestation as a symptom or sign noticed by the individual.
      The prevention of recurrences or exacerbations of a disease that already has been diagnosed. This also includes prevention of complications or after-effects of a drug or surgical procedure.
  • Secondary research
    • Wikipedia
      Synthesis (summary) of primary level research (trials, studies), in the form of reviews, systematic reviews or meta-analyses.
      Research that does not generate primary data but that involves the qualitative or quantitative synthesis of information from multiple primary studies. Examples are literature reviews, meta-analyses, decision analyses and consensus statements.
      Aldo called secondary level research.
  • Secondary sources
    • Wikipedia
      Secondary sources are reports that quote other people’s studies; these may be reviews.
  • Secondary study
    • A study of studies: a review of individual studies (each of which is called a primary study). A systematic review is a secondary study.
  • Secular trends
    • Changes in the probability of events with time, independent of known predictors of outcome.
      Changes over a long period of time, generally years or decades.
  • Selection bias
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      An error in choosing the individuals or groups to take part in a study. Ideally, the subjects in a study should be very similar to one another and to the larger population from which they are drawn (for example, all individuals with the same disease or condition). If there are important differences, the results of the study may not be valid.
      Systematic differences between comparison groups in prognosis or responsiveness to treatment. Random allocation with adequate concealment of allocation protects against selection bias. Other means of selecting who receives the intervention are more prone to bias because decisions may be related to prognosis or responsiveness to treatment.
      A systematic error in reviews due to how studies are selected for inclusion. Reporting bias is an example of this.
      A systematic difference in characteristics between those who are selected for study and those who are not. This affects external validity but not internal validity.
      The introduction of error due to systematic differences in the characteristics between those selected and those not selected for a given study. In sampling bias, error is the result of failure to ensure that all members of the reference population have a known chance of selection in the sample.
  • Selective prevention
    • Selective prevention strategies target subsets of the total population that are deemed to be at risk for substance abuse by virtue of their membership in a particular population segment, e.g. children of adult alcoholics, dropouts, or students who are failing academically.
  • Selective screening
    • Services to be offered to asymptomatic persons with one or more risk factors for a target condition, such as family history of the disease, certain personal behaviors, or membership in a population with increased prevalence of the disease.
  • Self-efficacy
    • Wikipedia
      Perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs that individuals hold about their capability to carry out action in a way that will influence the events that affect their lives.
  • Self-reported infecundity
    • Percentage of women who report having had a hysterectomy, or say they have gone through menopause, or report not having had a menstrual period in the past five years, or have never had a menstrual period.
  • Sensitivity
    • Wikipedia
      In screening/diagnostic tests: a measure of a test’s ability to correctly detect people with the disease. It is the proportion of diseased cases that are correctly identified by the test. It is calculated as follows: Sensitivity = Number with disease who have a positive test/Number with disease. (Also called true positive rate, detection rate.)
      In trial searching: a measure of a search’s ability to correctly identify relevant articles. It is the proportion of all relevant articles from all searches that were identified by the particular search of interest. It is calculated as follows: Sensitivity = Number of relevant articles identified by the search/Total number of relevant articles from all searches. (Also called recall.)
      The ability of a system to detect epidemics and other changes in disease occurrence. The proportion of persons with disease who are correctly identified by a screening test or case definition as having disease.
  • Sensitivity analysis
    • Wikipedia
      An analysis used to determine how sensitive the results of a study or systematic review are to changes in how it was done. Sensitivity analyses are used to assess how robust the results are to uncertain decisions or assumptions about the data and the methods that were used.
      There are different ways of sensitivity analysis. In the assessment of heterogeneity it is concerned with the effects of inclusion and exclusion of specific studies. In the use of statistical procedures, sensitivity analysis is the repetition of the analysis using different statistical methods of pooling to assess whether the same results are achieved, and whether the quality of the individual studies and publication bias change the pooled estimates.
      Describes the process of assessing the robustness of an economic evaluation by considering the effects of uncertainty. All evaluations are characterized by some degree of uncertainty or ignorance about the future course of events. In a sensitivity analysis, the results of the evaluation are re-worked after systematically substituting high and low values for each of the variables of interest (the discount rate or the expected loss to follow up, for example). If the conclusions remain unchanged after the re-analysis, then the results can be said to be robust. If the results are not robust, then sensitivity analysis can show where better information will be most useful.
  • Sensitivity and specificity
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Sensitivity and specificity are statistical measures of the performance of a binary classification test. Sensitivity (also called recall rate in some fields) measures the proportion of actual positives which are correctly identified as such (e.g. the percentage of sick people who are identified as having the condition). Specificity measures the proportion of negatives which are correctly identified (e.g. the percentage of healthy people who are identified as not having the condition).
      Measures for assessing the results of diagnostic and screening tests. Sensitivity represents the proportion of truly diseased persons in a screened population who are identified as being diseased by the test. It is a measure of the probability of correctly diagnosing a condition. Specificity is the proportion of truly nondiseased persons who are so identified by the screening test. It is a measure of the probability of correctly identifying a nondiseased person.
  • Sensitivity in surveillance
    • The ability of a surveillance or reporting system to detect true health events, i.e. the ratio of the total number of health events detected by the system to the total number of true health events as determined by an independent and more complete means of ascertainment.
  • Sensitivity of case definition
    • Ability of the case definition to detect all cases of the disease targeted for surveillance.
  • Sensitivity of detection of cases
    • Ability of the surveillance system to detect cases, i.e. proportion of cases notified divided by the total number of cases meeting the case definition.
  • Sensitivity of the detection of outbreaks
    • Ability of the surveillance system to detect outbreaks.
  • Sentinel effect
    • The tendency for human performance to improve when participants are aware that their behavior is being evaluated; in contrast to the Hawthorne effect, which refers to behavior change as a result of being observed but not evaluated.
  • Sentinel surveillance
    • MeSH
      A surveillance system in which a pre-arranged sample of reporting sources agrees to report all cases of one or more notifiable conditions.
      Monitoring of rate of occurrence of specific conditions to assess the stability or change in health levels of a population. It is also the study of disease rates in a specific cohort, geographic area, population subgroup, etc. to estimate trends in larger population.
  • Sequential sample
    • A sample in which all potentially eligible patients seen over a period of time are enrolled.
  • Sequential trial
    • A randomized trial in which the data are analyzed after each participant’s results become available, and the trial continues until a clear benefit is seen in favor of one of the comparison groups, or it is unlikely that any difference will emerge. The main advantage of sequential trials is that they are usually shorter than fixed size trials when there is a large difference in the effectiveness of the interventions being compared. Their use is restricted to conditions where the outcome of interest is known relatively quickly. In a group sequential trial, a limited number of interim analyses of the data are carried out at pre-specified times during recruitment and follow up, say 3-6 times in all.
  • Serious adverse event
    • Wikipedia
      Any untoward medical occurrence that at any dose: results in death, is life-threatening, requires inpatient hospitalization or prolongation of existing hospitalization, results in persistent or significant disability/incapacity, or is a congenital anomaly/birth defect.
  • Seroepidemiologic studies
    • MeSH
      Epidemiologic studies based on the detection through serological testing of characteristic change in the serum level of specific antibodies. Latent subclinical infections and carrier states can thus be detected in addition to clinically overt cases.
  • Setting of the intervention
    • The social and physical environment where the intervention is being implemented.
  • Severity of illness index
    • MeSH
      Levels of severity of illness within a diagnostic group which are established by various measurement criteria.
  • Sex
    • MeSH
      Sex refers to the biological characteristics that define humans as female or male. While these sets of biological characteristics are not mutually exclusive, as there are individuals who possess both, they tend to differentiate humans as males and females. In general use in many languages, the term sex is often used to mean “sexual activity”, but for technical purposes in the context of sexuality and sexual health discussions, the above definition is preferred.
      The totality of characteristics of reproductive structure, functions, phenotype, and genotype, differentiating the male from the female organism.
  • Sex characteristics
    • MeSH
      Those characteristics that distinguish one sex from the other. the primary sex characteristics are the ovaries and testes and their related hormones. secondary sex characteristics are those which are masculine or feminine but not directly related to reproduction.
  • Sex counseling
    • MeSH
      Advice and support given to individuals to help them understand and resolve their sexual adjustment problems. it excludes treatment for psychosexual disorders or psychosexual dysfunction.
  • Sex distribution
    • MeSH
      The number of males and females in a given population. The distribution may refer to how many men or women or what proportion of either in the group. The population is usually patients with a specific disease but the concept is not restricted to humans and is not restricted to medicine.
  • Sex education
    • MeSH
      Education which increases the knowledge of the functional, structural, and behavioral aspects of human reproduction.
  • Sex factors
    • MeSH
      Maleness or femaleness as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. it may be applicable to the cause or effect of a circumstance. it is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from sex characteristics, anatomical or physiological manifestations of sex, and from sex distribution, the number of males and females in given circumstances.
  • Sex ratio
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The number of males per 100 females in a population.
      The ratio of males to females in a population.
  • Sex-specific mortality rate
    • A mortality rate among either males or females.
  • Sexology
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The scientific study of sexual interests, behavior, and function.
      This discipline concerns the study of sexuality, and the application of sexual knowledge such as sexual attitudes, psychology, and sexual behavior. Scope of application generally includes educational (sex education), clinical (sex counseling), and other settings.
  • Sexual abstinence
    • MeSH
      Refraining from sexual intercourse.
  • Sexual abuse
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another, when that force is immediate, short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault.
      Any violation of established legal or moral codes in respect to sexual behavior.
    • Also called sex offense.
  • Sexual behavior
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality.
      Sexual activities of humans.
  • Sexual development
    • MeSH
      The processes of anatomical and physiological changes related to sexual or reproductive functions during the life span of a human or an animal, from fertilization to death. These processes include sex differentiation; sexual maturation; and changes during aging.
  • Sexual health
    • Sexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be respected, protected and fulfilled.
  • Sexual maturation
    • MeSH
      Achievement of full sexual capacity in animals and in humans.
  • Sexual partners
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Sexual partners are people who engage in consensual sexual activity together. The sexual partners can be of any gender or sexual orientation. The sexual partners may be in a committed relationship, either on an exclusive basis or not, or engage in the sexual activity on a casual basis.
      Married or single individuals who share sexual relations.
  • Sexual rights

    • Sexual rights embrace human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human rights documents and other consensus statements. They include the right of all persons, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, to:
      • the highest attainable standard of sexual health, including access to sexual and reproductive health care services;
      • seek, receive and impart information related to sexuality;
      • sexuality education;
      • respect for bodily integrity;
      • choose their partner;
      • decide to be sexually active or not;
      • consensual sexual relations;
      • consensual marriage;
      • decide whether or not, and when, to have children; and
      • pursue a satisfying, safe and pleasurable sexual life.
      The responsible exercise of human rights requires that all persons respect the rights of others.

  • Sexuality
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Human sexuality is how people experience the erotic and express themselves as sexual beings.
      Sexuality is a central aspect of being human throughout life and encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles and relationships. While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always experienced or expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social, economic, political, cultural, ethical, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors.
      The sexual functions, activities, attitudes, and orientations of an individual. Sexuality, male or female, becomes evident at puberty under the influence of gonadal steroids (testosterone or estradiol), and social effects.
  • Sexually transmitted disease
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      A sexually transmitted disease (STD), also known as sexually transmitted infection (STI) or venereal disease (VD), is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans or animals by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex.
      Diseases due to or propagated by sexual contact.
  • Sham therapy
    • An inactive treatment or procedure that is intended to mimic as closely as possible a therapy in a clinical trial. Also called placebo therapy.
  • Side effect
    • Wikipedia
      A problem that occurs when treatment affects healthy tissues or organs.
      Any undesired actions or effects of a drug or treatment. Negative or adverse effects may include headache, nausea, hair loss, skin irritation, or other physical problems. Experimental drugs must be evaluated for both immediate and long-term side effects.
      Any unintended effect of an intervention. Side effects are most commonly associated with pharmaceutical products, in which case they are related to the pharmacological properties of the drug at doses normally used for therapeutic purposes in humans
  • Significant
    • Wikipedia
      In statistics, describes a mathematical measure of difference between groups. The difference is said to be significant if it is greater than what might be expected to happen by chance alone. Also called statistically significant.
  • Simple random sample
    • Wikipedia
      In statistics, a simple random sample is a subset of individuals (a sample) chosen from a larger set (a population). Each individual is chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each individual has the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process, and each subset of k individuals has the same probability of being chosen for the sample as any other subset of k individuals.
      A simple random sample (or single stage random) is an example of a probability sample. It is the ideal sampling frame for a survey because each eligible individual in the population has a known and non-zero chance of being included in the sample. However, this sampling frame is very expensive and often not logistically feasible. As a result, most surveys employ some form of cluster sampling.
  • Simple random sampling
    • Wikipedia
      Sampling design whereby an individual sampling frame of households is established, and households to be sampled are selected using random numbers.
  • Simple randomization
    • Randomization without restriction. In a two-group trial, it is analogous to the toss of a coin.
  • Simple regression
    • Wikipedia
      Regression when there is only one independent variable under evaluation with respect to a dependent variable.
  • Single blind study
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      A type of clinical trial in which only the doctor knows whether a patient is taking the standard treatment or the new treatment being tested. This helps prevent bias in treatment studies.
      A study in which one party, either the investigator or participant, is unaware of what medication the participant is taking; also called single-masked study.
      A method in which either the observer(s) or the subject(s) is kept ignorant of the group to which the subjects are assigned.
  • Single person
    • MeSH
      The unmarried man or woman.
  • Situation analysis
    • Wikipedia
      Study of a situation which may require improvement. This begins with a definition of the problem and an assessment or measurement of its extent, severity, causes, and impacts upon the community, and is followed by appraisal of interaction between the system and its environment and evaluations of performance.
  • Skewed distribution
    • Wikipedia
      A frequency distribution curve which is asymmetrical, with one side of the curve extending in an elongated fashion.
  • Skilled birth attendant
    • A skilled birth attendant is an accredited health professional—such as a midwife, doctor or nurse—who has been educated and trained to proficiency in the skills needed to manage normal (uncomplicated) pregnancies, childbirth and the immediate postnatal period, and in the identification, management and referral of complications in women and newborns. Traditional birth attendants, trained or not, are excluded from the category of skilled attendant at delivery.
  • Small-area analysis
    • MeSH
      A method of analyzing the variation in utilization of health care in small geographic or demographic areas. It often studies, for example, the usage rates for a given service or procedure in several small areas, documenting the variation among the areas. By comparing high- and low-use areas, the analysis attempts to determine whether there is a pattern to such use and to identify variables that are associated with and contribute to the variation.
  • Small for gestational age
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Birth weight less than 2 standard deviations below the mean or less than the 10th centile according to local intrauterine growth charts.
      Small for gestational age (SGA) babies are those whose birth weight, length, or head circumference lies below the 10th percentile for that gestational age.
      An infant having a birth weight lower than expected for its gestational age.
  • SnNout
    • When a test with a high Sensitivity is Negative, it effectively rules out the diagnosis of disease.
  • Snowball sampling
    • Wikipedia
      Study participants nominate or refer other potential study participants who meet the study inclusion criteria.
  • Social care
    • Services related to long-term inpatient care plus community care services, such as day care centers and social services for the chronically ill, the elderly and other groups with special needs such as the mentally ill, mentally handicapped and the physically handicapped.
  • Social class
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Social classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups.
      A stratum of people with similar position and prestige; includes social stratification. Social class is measured by criteria such as education, occupation, and income.
  • Social epidemiology
    • Wikipedia
      The branch of epidemiology that studies the social distribution and social determinants of health.
  • Social marketing
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Social marketing is the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution and evaluation of programs designed to influence the behavior of target audiences in order to improve the welfare of individuals and society.
      Use of marketing principles also used to sell products to consumers to promote ideas, attitudes and behaviors. Design and use of programs seeking to increase the acceptance of a social idea or practice by target groups, not for the benefit of the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society.
  • Social medicine
    • MeSH
      A branch of medicine concerned with the role of socio-environmental factors in the occurrence, prevention and treatment of disease.
  • Social security
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The provision of social protection against a number of risks, such as incapacity to work resulting from disease or disability, unemployment, old age, or family maintenance.
      Government sponsored social insurance programs.
  • Social work
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Social work is a professional and academic discipline committed to the pursuit of social welfare and social change.
      The use of community resources, individual case work, or group work to promote the adaptive capacities of individuals in relation to their social and economic environments. It includes social service agencies.
  • Socioeconomic factors
    • MeSH
      Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.
  • Socioeconomic gradient in health
    • Refers to the worse health of those who are at a lower level of socioeconomic position—whether measured by income, occupational grade, or educational attainment—even those who are already in relatively high socioeconomic groups.
  • Source data
    • All information in original records and certified copies of original records of clinical findings, observations, or other activities in a clinical trial necessary for the reconstruction and evaluation of the trial. Source data are contained in source documents (original records or certified copies).
  • Source documents
    • Wikipedia
      Original documents, data, and records (e.g., hospital records, clinical and office charts, laboratory notes, memoranda, subjects' diaries or evaluation checklists, pharmacy dispensing records, recorded data from automated instruments, copies or transcriptions certified after verification as being accurate and complete, microfiches, photographic negatives, microfilm or magnetic media, x-rays, subject files, and records kept at the pharmacy, at the laboratories, and at medico-technical departments involved in the clinical trial).
  • Space-time clustering
    • MeSH
      A statistically significant excess of cases of a disease, occurring within a limited space-time continuum.
  • Spatial sampling
    • Approach to selection of clusters or households to be sampled, whereby clusters and/or households are allocated proportionately to surface area within the study area. Alternative to population-proportional sampling.
  • Specific fertility rate in women 15-19 years of age
    • Ratio between the number of live births born to mothers 15 to 19 years of age during a given year and the mid-year female population 15 to 19 years of age, for a given country, territory, or geographic area, during a specified period, usually multiplied by 1,000.
  • Specific objectives
    • Intermediate result necessary to achieve the general objective. Specific objectives always relate to changes in the target groups so that the outcomes are clearly measurable. The specific objectives need not necessarily relate to drug use but each of them, if achieved, should lead plausibly to fulfillment of the general objective. The measurement of specific objectives through outcome indicators lead to an outcome evaluation.
  • Specific target group
    • The population in which the change defined as a general objective is to be reached.
  • Specification
    • A methodological technique for interpreting a more general ethical principle to bring its implications closer to—to better “apply” it to—actions and decisions. Specification may be used to resolve conflicts among, to balance, or to rank principles. In public health, the precautionary principle is a specified version of the more general principle of beneficence.
  • Specificity
    • Wikipedia
      In screening/diagnostic tests: a measure of a test’s ability to correctly identify people who do not have the disease. It is the proportion of people without the target disease who are correctly identified by the test. It is the complement of the false positive rate (FPR=1-specificity). It is calculated as follows: Specificity = Number without disease who have a negative test/Number without disease.
      The proportion of persons without disease who are correctly identified by a screening test or case definition as not having disease.
      Specificity is established when a single putative cause produces a specific effect.
  • Specificity in surveillance
    • A measure of how infrequently a system detects false positive health events, i.e. the number of individuals identified by the system as not being diseased divided by the total number of all persons who do not have the disease.
  • Spectrum bias
    • Wikipedia
      Ideally, diagnostic test properties will be assessed in a population in which the spectrum of disease in the target-positive patients includes all those in whom clinicians might be uncertain about the diagnosis, and the target-negative patients include all those with conditions easily confused with the target condition. Spectrum bias may occur when the accuracy of a diagnostic test is assessed in a population that differs from this ideal. Examples of spectrum bias include a situation in which a substantial proportion of the target-positive population have advanced disease, and target-negative participants are normal or asymptomatic. Such situations typically occur in diagnostic case-control studies (e.g., comparing those with advanced disease to normal individuals). Such studies are liable to yield an overly sanguine estimate of the usefulness of the test.
  • Sponsor
    • Wikipedia
      An individual, company, institution, or organization that takes responsibility for the initiation, management, and/or financing of a clinical trial.
      A person who initiates a clinical investigation, but who does not actually conduct the investigation, i.e., the test article is administered or dispensed to or used involving, a subject under the immediate direction of another individual. A person other than an individual (e.g., corporation or agency) that uses one or more of its own employees to conduct a clinical investigation it has initiated is considered to be a sponsor (not a sponsor-investigator), and the employees are considered to be investigators.
  • Sponsor-investigator
    • An individual who both initiates and conducts, alone or with others, a clinical trial, and under whose immediate direction the investigational product is administered to, dispensed to, or used by a subject. The term does not include any person other than an individual (e.g., it does not include a corporation or an agency). The obligations of a sponsor-investigator include both those of a sponsor and those of an investigator.
      An individual who both initiates and actually conducts, alone or with others, a clinical investigation, i.e., under whose immediate direction the test article is administered or dispensed to, or used involving, a subject. The term does not include any person other than an individual, e.g., corporation or agency.
  • Sporadic
    • A disease that occurs infrequently and irregularly.
  • Spot map
    • A map that indicates the location of each case of a rare disease or outbreak by a place that is potentially relevant to the health event being investigated, such as where each case lived or worked.
  • SpPin
    • When a test is highly Specific, a Positive result can rule in the diagnosis.
  • Stakeholder
    • Groups that have an interest in the organization and delivery of health care, and who either conduct, sponsor, or are consumers of health care research, such as patients, payers, health care practitioners.
      Stakeholders are people involved in or affected by proposal development and implementation, drawn from public, private and voluntary sectors, and the communities or groups affected.
  • Standard deviation
    • Wikipedia
      A measure of the spread or dispersion of a set of observations, calculated as the average difference from the mean value in the sample.
  • Standard error
    • Wikipedia
      The standard deviation of the sampling distribution of a statistic. Measurements taken from a sample of the population will vary from sample to sample. The standard error is a measure of the variation in the sample statistic over all possible samples of the same size. The standard error decreases as the sample size increases. (Also called SE.)
  • Standard gamble
    • A method of establishing the utility of a specified health state. For chronic health states, people are asked to choose between the certainty of the specified health state for a given period of time or a gamble that involves a probability (p) of restoration to full health and a complementary probability (1−p) of immediate death. The value of p is changed until the respondent regards the two options as equivalent to each other. The utility of the specified health state is then given by p. A slightly modified method is needed for temporary health states or states regarded as worse than death.
  • Standard operating procedures
    • Wikipedia
      Detailed, written instructions to achieve uniformity of the performance of a specific function.
  • Standard treatment
    • Wikipedia
      A treatment currently in wide use and approved by the FDA, considered to be effective in the treatment of a specific disease or condition.
  • Standardized instruments
    • Instruments of examination, observation‚ or evaluation that share a standard set of instructions for their administration, use, scoring, and interpretation.
  • Standardized mean difference
    • The difference between two estimated means divided by an estimate of the standard deviation. It is used to combine results from studies using different ways of measuring the same concept, e.g. mental health. By expressing the effects as a standardized value, the results can be combined since they have no units. Standardized mean differences are sometimes referred to as a d index. (Also called SMD.)
  • Standardized mortality ratio/rate
    • Wikipedia
      The number of deaths in a given year as a percentage of those expected (expected = standard mortality of the reference period, adjusted for age and sex).
  • Standardized rate
    • Wikipedia
      Standardized rates are a statistical measure of any rates in a population. The most common are birth, death and unemployment rates. The formula for standardized rates is as follows:
      ∑(crude rate for age group ∑ standard population for age group) / ∑standard population
  • Standards of care
    • Wikipedia
      Treatment regimen or medical management based on state of the art participant care.
  • State of the art
    • Wikipedia
      The state of the art is the highest level of development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field, achieved at a particular time. It also applies to the level of development (as of a device, procedure, process, technique, or science) reached at any particular time usually as a result of modern methods.
  • Statistical analysis plan
    • A statistical analysis plan is a document that contains a more technical and detailed elaboration of the principal features of the analysis described in the protocol, and includes detailed procedures for executing the statistical analysis of the primary and secondary variables and other data.
  • Statistical factor analysis
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that variations in three or four observed variables mainly reflect the variations in a single unobserved variable, or in a reduced number of unobserved variables.
      A set of statistical methods for analyzing the correlations among several variables in order to estimate the number of fundamental dimensions that underlie the observed data and to describe and measure those dimensions. It is used frequently in the development of scoring systems for rating scales and questionnaires.
  • Statistical inference
    • Wikipedia
      Statistical methodologies to make deductions about underlying truth. There are two principle functions: (1) To predict or estimate a population parameter from a sample statistic, and (2) to test statistically based hypotheses.
      The development of generalizations from sample data, usually with calculated degrees of uncertainty.
  • Statistical significance
    • Wikipedia
      The probability that an event or difference occurred by chance alone. In clinical trials, the level of statistical significance depends on the number of participants studied and the observations made, as well as the magnitude of differences observed.
      A statistic indicating that the result obtained is probably not due to chance but is real. A statistically significant result does not necessarily mean that it is important or interesting.
  • Statistical significance test
    • Wikipedia
      A test to estimate the likelihood that an observed study result, for example a difference between two groups or an association, can be due to chance.
  • Statistically significant
    • Wikipedia
      A result that is unlikely to have happened by chance. The usual threshold for this judgment is that the results, or more extreme results, would occur by chance with a probability of less than 0.05 if the null hypothesis was true. Statistical tests produce a p-value used to assess this.
  • Statistics
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The science of making effective use of numerical data relating to groups of individuals or experiments.
      The science and art of collecting, summarizing, and analyzing data that are subject to random variation. The term is also applied to the data themselves and to the summarization of the data.
      Statistics [MeSH - publication type]: works consisting of presentations of numerical data on particular subjects.
  • Stillbirth
    • MeSH
      The event that a fetus is born dead or stillborn.
  • Stochastic process
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      In probability theory, a stochastic process, or sometimes random process, is the counterpart to a deterministic process (or deterministic system).
      Processes that incorporate some element of randomness, used particularly to refer to a time series of random variables.
  • Stopped early trials
    • Truncated randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are trials stopped early because of apparent harm because the investigators have concluded that they will not be able to demonstrate a treatment effect (futility), or because of apparent benefit. Believing the treatment from RCTs stopped early for benefit will be misleading if the decision to stop the trial resulted from catching the apparent benefit of treatment at a random high.
  • Stopping rule
    • A procedure that allows interim analyses in clinical trials at predefined times, whilst preserving the Type I error at some pre-specified level.
      In some trials, a statistical criterion that, when met by the accumulating data, indicates that the trial can or should be stopped early to avoid putting participants at risk unnecessarily or because the intervention effect is so great that further data collection is unnecessary. Usually defined in the trial protocol and implemented during a planned interim analysis.
  • Stratification
    • Wikipedia
      The process by which groups are separated into mutually exclusive sub-groups of the population that share a characteristic: e.g. age group, sex, or socioeconomic status. It is possible to compare these different strata to try and see if the effects of a treatment differ between the sub-groups.
      Sampling and analysis of sub-groups or sub-periods.
  • Stratified random sampling
    • Wikipedia
      A sampling procedure in which the researcher tries to ensure that important subgroups in the population are adequately represented.
  • Stratified randomization
    • A method used to ensure that equal numbers of participants with a characteristic thought to affect prognosis or response to the intervention will be allocated to each comparison group. For example, in a trial of women with breast cancer, it may be important to have similar numbers of pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women in each comparison group. Stratified randomization could be used to allocate equal numbers of pre- and post-menopausal women to each treatment group. Stratified randomization is performed by performing separate randomization (often using random permuted blocks) for each strata.
  • Stratified sampling
    • Wikipedia
      In statistics, stratified sampling is a method of sampling from a population.
      A stratified sampling technique is the process by which the population is divided into subgroups. Sampling will then be conducted in each subgroup. Subgroups are chosen because evidence is available that they are related to an outcome of interest (i.e. population coverage, health status, ethnicity, etc). The strata chosen will vary by survey or country to reflect local needs.
  • Strength of evidence
    • Strength of evidence is often assessed on a combination of the study design (level of evidence), study quality (how well it was implemented), and statistical precision (p value and confidence intervals).
  • Strength of inference
    • The likelihood that an observed difference between groups within a study represents a real difference rather than mere chance or the influence of confounding factors, based on both p values and confidence intervals. Strength of inference is weakened by various forms of bias and by small sample sizes.
  • Strength of the association
    • Strength of the association is defined by the magnitude and statistical significance of the measured risk.
  • Structure of health systems or health facilities
    • Aspects of the design of health services that influence the way in which services are delivered. These include the numbers and types of personnel and staff; the way in which these personnel are organized to do their work; the nature and extent of the facility and equipment; the range of services offered; systems of management and amenities; accessibility; mode of financing; the way in which the eligible population is determined and enumerated; and the mechanisms of governance and administrative decision making.
  • Structured abstracts
    • These abstracts often include critical information about research conduct omitted from the original reports. They do not include the introduction or the discussion sections of the original report or the conclusions of the original study.
  • Structured interview
    • Wikipedia
      An interview in which the questions are generally pre-defined, asked in a fixed order and recorded in writing.
  • Study endpoint
    • Wikipedia
      A primary or secondary outcome used to judge the effectiveness of a treatment.
  • Study type
    • The primary investigative techniques used in an observational protocol; types are Purpose, Duration, Selection, and Timing.
  • Study validity
    • Study validity refers to the degree to which the inferences drawn from a study are warranted when account is taken of the study methods; the representativeness of the study sample; and the nature of the population from which it is drawn.
  • Subgroup analysis
    • Wikipedia
      An analysis in which the intervention effect is evaluated in a defined subset of the participants in a trial, or in complementary subsets, such as by sex or in age categories. Trial sizes are generally too small for sub-group analyses to have adequate statistical power. Comparison of sub-groups should be by test of interaction rather than by comparison of p-values. Sub-group analyses are also subject to the multiple comparisons problem.
  • Subinvestigator
    • Any individual member of the clinical trial team designated and supervised by the investigator at a trial site to perform critical trial-related procedures and/or to make important trial-related decisions (e.g., associates, residents, research fellows).
  • Subject identification code
    • A unique identifier assigned by the investigator to each trial subject to protect the subject's identity and used in lieu of the subject's name when the investigator reports adverse events and/or other trial-related data.
  • Subjective measures
    • Measures involving a substantial degree of human interpretation, for example ratings of pain.
  • Subjects
    • Participants in a study. They should not be called material for the study.
  • Suburban population
    • MeSH
      The inhabitants of peripheral or adjacent areas of a city or town.
  • Sufficient cause
    • Wikipedia
      A causal factor or collection of factors whose presence is always followed by the occurrence of the effect (of disease).
  • Summative evaluation
    • Wikipedia
      Summative evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a program at the end of the program activities. The focus is on the outcome.
  • Superiority trial
    • Wikipedia
      A trial with the primary objective of showing that the response to the investigational product is superior to a comparative agent (active or placebo control).
  • Supervisor
    • The person who is responsible for guiding the individual(s) doing a research project.
  • Supplier- induced demand
    • Wikipedia
      A phenomenon whereby a health care provider, usually a physician, influences the level of a person’s demand for health care services.
  • Surrogate endpoint
    • Wikipedia
      In clinical trials, a surrogate endpoint (or marker) is a measure of effect of a certain treatment that may correlate with a real clinical endpoint but doesn't necessarily have a guaranteed relationship.
      Outcome measures that are not of direct practical importance but are believed to reflect outcomes that are important; for example, blood pressure is not directly important to patients but it is often used as an outcome in clinical trials because it is a risk factor for stroke and heart attacks. Surrogate endpoints are often physiological or biochemical markers that can be relatively quickly and easily measured, and that are taken as being predictive of important clinical outcomes. They are often used when observation of clinical outcomes requires long follow-up. (Also called intermediary outcomes, surrogate outcomes.)
  • Surrogate variable
    • A variable that provides an indirect measurement of effect in situations where direct measurement of clinical effect is not feasible or practical.
  • Surveillance
    • Wikipedia
      Continuous analysis, interpretation and feedback of systematically collected data, generally using methods distinguished by their practicality, uniformity, and rapidity rather than by accuracy or completeness. By observing trends in time, place and persons, changes can be observed or anticipated and appropriate action including investigative or control measures, can be taken. Sources of data may relate directly to disease or to factors influencing disease.
  • Survey
    • Wikipedia
      Observational study that focuses on obtaining information about activities, beliefs, preferences, knowledge, or attitudes from respondents through interviewer-administered or self-administered methods.
      The process of collecting information by canvassing a chosen group.
  • Survival
    • MeSH
      Continuance of life or existence especially under adverse conditions; includes methods and philosophy of survival.
  • Survival analysis
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The analysis of data that measure the time to an event e.g. death, next episode of disease.
      A class of statistical procedures for estimating the survival function (function of time, starting with a population 100% well at a given time and providing the percentage of the population still well at later times). The survival analysis is then used for making inferences about the effects of treatments, prognostic factors, exposures, and other covariates on the function.
  • Survival bias
    • Type of selection bias specific to retrospective surveys, whereby households that disappear during the recall period because of the death of all members and consequent disintegration are not represented in the sample. It occurs when high and/or very clustered mortality persists for a long period. Survival bias always results in an under-estimation of mortality.
  • Survival curve
    • A curve that starts at 100% of the study population and shows the percentage of the population still surviving at successive times for as long as information is available. May be applied not only to survival as such, but also to the persistence of freedom from a disease, or complication or some other endpoint.
  • Survival rate
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      The proportion of persons in a specified group (age, sex, or health status) alive at the beginning of an interval (such as a five-year period) who survive to the end of the interval.
      The proportion of survivors in a group, e.g., of patients, studied and followed over a period, or the proportion of persons in a specified group alive at the beginning of a time interval who survive to the end of the interval. It is often studied using life table methods.
  • Sustainable health promotion actions
    • Sustainable health promotion actions are those that can maintain their benefits for communities and populations beyond their initial stage of implementation. Sustainable actions can continue to be delivered within the limits of finances, expertise, infrastructure, natural resources and participation by stakeholders.
  • Sustainability
    • Wikipedia
      The capacity to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability to meet future needs.
  • Systematic error
    • Wikipedia
      Systematic errors are biases in measurement which lead to the situation where the mean of many separate measurements differs significantly from the actual value of the measured attribute.
      A systematic error or bias occurs when there is a difference between the true value (in the population) and the observed value (in the study) from any cause other than sampling variability.
  • Systematic review
    • Wikipedia
      A review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. Statistical methods (meta-analysis) may or may not be used to analyze and summaries the results of the included studies.
      A systematic review is a method of identifying, appraising, and synthesizing research evidence. The aim is to evaluate and interpret all available research that is relevant to a particular review question. A systematic review differs from a traditional literature review in that the latter describes and appraises previous work, but does not specify methods by which the reviewed studies were identified, selected, or evaluated. In a systematic review, the scope (for example, the review question and any sub-questions and/or sub-group analyses) is defined in advance, and the methods to be used at each step are specified. The steps include: a comprehensive search to find all relevant studies; the use of criteria to include or exclude studies; and the application of established standards to appraise study quality. A systematic review also makes explicit the methods of extracting and synthesizing study findings.
      A synthesis of the results of several primary studies by using procedures that limit bias and random error. These procedures include a search of all potentially relevant investigations and the use of explicit and reliable criteria in the selection of investigations for review. A qualitative systematic review summarizes the primary investigations without statistical pooling. Quantitative systematic review is synonymous with meta-analysis.
  • Systematic random sampling
    • Sampling design whereby an individual sampling frame of households is established, and households to be sampled are selected using a constant sampling step.
  • Systematic sampling
    • Wikipedia
      A sampling procedure in which subjects are selected by a simple periodic process, for example, selecting every second or third patient.
      Systematic sampling incorporates a systematic method to a random sample (for example, the randomly selected number is five, therefore every fifth household would be sampled on selected streets).