Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks for the scientific discipline dedicated to studying the patterns and causes of diseases within populations.
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
* Epidemiology: This is the branch of medicine that deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health. It focuses on how diseases are distributed (who, where, when) and what determines their occurrence (risk factors, causes).
* Community: This refers to a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, not a field of study.
* Pathology: This is the study of the causes and effects of diseases, specifically focusing on the structural and functional changes in tissues and organs due to disease. It primarily studies disease at the individual and tissue level.
* Entomology: This is the scientific study of insects.
Therefore, the study of the distribution and determinants of disease is epidemiology.
Step 4: Final Answer:
The study is called Epidemiology.