Epidemiologic Methods- Fall 2008Lecture Title

1 Study Design

2 Measures of Disease Occurrence I

3 Measures of Disease Occurrence II 4 Measures of Disease Association I 5 Measures of Disease Association II

6 Selection Bias

7 Understanding Measurement: Reproducibility & Validity

8 Measurement Bias

9 Confounding and Interaction I: General Principles

10 Confounding and Interaction II: Assessing Interaction

11 Confounding and Interaction III: Stratified Analysis

12 Journal Club

13 Conceptual Approach to Multivariable Analysis I

14 Conceptual Approach to Multivariable Analysis II

Course Administration• Format

– Lectures: Tuesdays 8:45 – 10:15 am– Small Group Sections: Tuesdays 1:30 pm. Begin next week.

• Overview of lectures, review of assignments. • Group assignment: CB 6702, 6601, 5721 & 5759 (see website)

– Journal Clubs: Over lunch hour (begin 9/30); and 12/9 lect. slot• Application of lecture concepts to contemporary literature

• Textbooks, Reading and Software– Epidemiology: Beyond the Basics by Szklo and Nieto (S & N). – Multivariable Analysis: A Practical Guide for Clinicians by M. Katz – Selected other passages– Slide notes from each lecture (see website)– Statistical software: Stata version 10

• Grading– Based on points achieved on homework (~66%) &

final (~33%). – Late assignments are not accepted.– Problem sets:

• word process your responses• files should be pulled from website• documents are all-inclusive; no need to lookup articles• due at start of section.

• Missed sessions– All material distributed in class is posted on website.

Definitions of Epidemiology

• The study of the distribution and determinants (causes) of disease– e.g., cardiovascular epidemiology would study risk for

various heart diseases

• Method used to conduct human subject research– the methodologic foundation (“basic science”) of any

research where individual humans or groups of humans are the unit of observation

Which of the following is the easiest to begin to perform?

� Clinical practice (e.g., medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy)

� Epidemiologic/Clinical research (aka human subjects research)

� Laboratory research

Which of the following is the easiest to begin to perform?

� Clinical practice

� Epidemiologic/Clinical research (aka human subjects research)

� Laboratory research

Need a degree and a license

Need physical lab space and equipment

Need idea and a calculator

Which of the following is the easiest to perform well?

� Clinical practice

� Epidemiologic/Clinical research (aka human subjects research)

� Laboratory research

Which of the following is the easiest to perform well?

� Clinical practice

� Epidemiologic/Clinical research (ie human subjects research)

� Laboratory research

� All of the above require extensive knowledge and experience to perform well