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Glossary of terms used in health research - U

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  • Unblinded
    • Patients, clinicians, those monitoring outcomes, judicial assessors of outcomes, data analysts, and manuscript authors are aware of whether patients have been assigned to the experimental or control group.
  • Unconfounded comparison
    • A comparison between two treatment groups that will give an unbiased estimate of the effect of treatment due to the study design. For a comparison to be unconfounded, the two treatment groups must be treated identically, apart from the randomized treatment. For instance, to estimate the effect of heparin in acute stroke, a trial of heparin alone versus placebo would provide an unconfounded comparison. However, a trial of heparin alone versus aspirin alone provides a confounded comparison of the effect of heparin.
  • Uncontrolled trial
    • A clinical trial that has no control group.
  • Under-five mortality, estimated
    • The quotient between the number of deaths in children under 5 year of age in a given year and the number of live births in that year, for a given country, territory, or geographic area, expressed per 1,000 live births.
  • Underlying cause of death
    • Underlying cause of death has been defined by ICD (WHO, 1992) as “(a) the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or (b) the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury”.
  • Underregistered deaths
    • The difference between the number of estimated deaths, according to the corresponding period life tables, and the number of currently registered deaths, expressed as a percentage of the total estimated deaths at a given year, in a given country, territory, or geographic area.
  • Unexpected adverse drug reaction
    • An adverse reaction, the nature or severity of which is not consistent with the applicable product information (e.g., Investigator's Brochure for an unapproved investigational product or package insert/summary of product characteristics for an approved product).
  • Unintended pregnancy
    • Wikipedia
      Unintended pregnancies include unwanted pregnancies as well as those that are mistimed. Worldwide, 38% of pregnancies are unintended (some 80 million unintended pregnancies each year). Unintended pregnancies result in about 42 million induced abortions per year, and 34 million unintended births.
  • Unit of allocation
    • The unit that is assigned to the alternative interventions being investigated in a trial. Most commonly, the unit will be an individual person but, in a cluster randomized trial, groups of people will be assigned together to one or the other of the interventions. In some other trials, different parts of a person (such as the left or right eye) might be assigned to receive different interventions.
  • Unit of analysis error
    • An error made in statistical analysis when the analysis does not take account of the unit of allocation. In some studies, the unit of allocation is not a person, but is instead a group of people, or parts of a person, such as eyes or teeth. Sometimes the data from these studies are analyzed as if people had been allocated individually. Using individuals as the unit of analysis when groups of people are allocated can result in overly narrow confidence intervals. In meta-analysis, it can result in studies receiving more weight than is appropriate.
  • Unlinked information
    • Information which cannot be linked, associated or connected with the person to whom it refers; confidentiality here is not at stake.
  • Univariate analysis
    • Wikipedia
      A set of mathematical tools to assess the relationship between one independent variable and one dependent variable.
  • Universal health care
    • Wikipedia
      Universal health care is a system of organized health-care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.
  • Universal precautions
    • MeSH - Wikipedia
      Recommendations issued by CDC to minimize the risk of transmission of bloodborne pathogens, particularly HIV and HBV, by health care and public safety workers. Barrier precautions are to be used to prevent exposure to blood and certain body fluids of all patients.
      Prudent standard preventive measures to be taken by professional and other health personnel in contact with persons afflicted with a communicable disease, to avoid contracting the disease by contagion or infection. Precautions are especially applicable in the diagnosis and care of AIDS patients.
  • Universal prevention
    • Universal prevention strategies address the entire population (national, local community, school, neighborhood) with messages and programs aimed at preventing or delaying the abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
  • Universal target group
    • The universal target group is the group of people, households, organizations, communities or any other identifiable unit which a prevention intervention is directed towards. A careful analysis and estimation of the size and nature of the target group are essential preconditions when documenting the need for a prevention activity.
  • Unmet need for family planning
    • The proportion of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) who are married or in union and who have an unmet need for family planning, i.e. who do not want any more children or want to wait at least two years before having a baby, and yet are not using contraception.
  • Unplanned analyses
    • Statistical analyses that are not specified in the trial protocol, and are generally suggested by the data. In contrast to planned analyses. (Also called data derived analyses, post hoc analyses.)
  • Unplanned pregnancy
    • MeSH
      Unintended accidental pregnancy, including pregnancy resulting from failed contraceptive measures.
  • Unpublished works
    • Unpublished works [MeSH - publication type]: works that have not been formally published.
  • Unsafe abortion
    • Wikipedia
      The termination of an unintended pregnancy by persons lacking the necessary skills, or in an environment lacking the minimal medical standards, or both.
  • Unsafe sex
    • MeSH
      Sexual behaviors which are high-risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases or for producing pregnancy.
  • Unwanted pregnancy
    • MeSH
      Pregnancy, usually accidental, that is not desired by the parent or parents.
  • Up-front costs
    • Costs incurred to "produce" the treatment such as the physician's time, nurse's time, and materials.
  • Urban population
    • MeSH
      The inhabitants of a city or town, including metropolitan areas and suburban areas.
  • Users of reviews
    • People using a review to make practical decisions about health care, and researchers conducting or considering further research.
  • Utilitarianism
    • Wikipedia
      An approach to ethics asserting that one should always strive to produce the greatest possible balance of good over harm. Historically, identified with social reform movements of 18th century England. Classically expressed as the obligation to produce the greatest good for the greatest number; more recent accounts emphasize optimization of benefits and harms.
      Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its utility in providing happiness or pleasure as summed among all sentient beings.
      Also called utilism.
  • Utility
    • Wikipedia
      In economic and decision analysis, the value given to an outcome, usually expressed as being between zero and one (e.g. death typically has a utility value of zero and a full healthy life has a value of one).
  • Utility measures
    • Measures that provide a single number that summarizes all of health-related quality of life (HRQL) and are preference- or value-weighted; these have the references or values anchored to death and full health and are called utility measures.
  • Utilization
    • MeSH
      The number of health services used, often expressed per 1000 persons per month or year.
      Used with equipment, facilities, programs, services, and health personnel for discussions, usually with data, of how much they are used. It includes discussions of overuse and underuse.
  • Utilization focused evaluation
    • Utilization focused evaluation starts with the evaluator asking decision makers what type of information (evidence) they would find most useful. The purpose is to increase the transfer of evidence into practice.
  • Utilization/use of health services
    • Experience of people as to their receipt of health care services of different types.