Epidemiology for Canadian Students: Principles, Methods and Critical Appraisal

Description

Epidemiology for Canadian Students introduces students to the principles and methods of epidemiology and critical appraisal, all grounded within a Canadian context. This context is crucial—epidemiologic research in Canada most often uses data from Canadian registries, Canadian special purpose cohorts, provincial health administrators, national statistical agencies and other sources that will be important to Canadian students during their careers. Dr. Scott Patten draws on more than 20 years’ experience teaching epidemiology to present core concepts in a conversational tone and pragmatic sequence. This introductory textbook is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students, health professionals and trainees. Topics include: Basic principles and why epidemiological reasoning matters for health professionals. Key parameters in descriptive and analytical epidemiology. Sources of error in epidemiology, and ways to quantify and control error. The concept of bias, which is introduced with basic parameter estimates to make it more accessible to students. Key study designs and their vulnerability to error. How to use critical appraisal and causal judgement to evaluate epidemiological studies. 朱力 1 What is epidemiology?..............2 2 Epidemiological reasoning..............10 Part II Fundamental Descriptive Parameters..............21 3 Basic measures based on frequencies and rates..............22 4 Specialized mortality rates and composite measures of disease burden..............35 Part III Vulnerability to Error of Descriptive Studies..............51 5 Random error from sampling..............52 6 Measurement error that leads to misclassification..............65