An Introduction to Epidemiology for Health Professionals (Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health Book 1)

An Introduction to Epidemiology for Health Professionals Jorn Olsen, Kaare Christensen, Jeff Murray, and Anders Ekbom Who gets sick? What factors—genetic, environmental, social—contribute to their illness? Easy enough to ask, but the answers are becoming increasingly complicated. Today, as the public worries about emerging diseases and the word epidemic is part of the general discussion, epidemiology should be a basic component of medical training, yet often it is undertaught or even neglected. Concise and readable while also rigorous and thorough, An Introduction to Epidemiology for Health Professionals goes beyond standard textbook content to ground the reader in scientific methods most relevant to the current health landscape and the evolution of evidence-based medicine—valuable keys to better understanding of disease process, effective prevention, and targeted treatment. This volume: Presents material accessibly for readers who may have not studied epidemiology. Focuses equally in descriptive and analytic branches of epidemiology. Demonstrates applications of descriptive and analytic methods in public health, genetic epidemiology, and clinical epidemiology. Includes a "Sources of Error" section addressing problems in inference and decision-making, selection bias, and other common pitfalls. In addition to its usefulness for graduate students in public health and medical students in clinical epidemiology, An Introduction to Epidemiology for Health Professionals is a timely reference for practitioners needing a refresher in this important discipline. ISBN-13: 978-1441914965 An Introduction to Epidemiology for Health Professionals, Volume 1 (Springer Series on Epidemiology and Health) 1 Front-matter 2 Title page 4 Copyright 5 Preface 6 Contents 8 A Short Introduction to Epidemiology 12 References 13 Part I Descriptive Epidemiology 14 1 Measures of Disease Occurrence 15 Incidence and Prevalence 16 Incidence 18 Rates and Dynamic Populations 19 Calculating Observation Time 21 Prevalence, Incidence, Duration 22 Mortality and Life Expectancy 23 Life Expectancy 24 References 25 2 Estimates of Associations 26 3 Age Standardization 29 4 Causes of Diseases 32 References 37 5 Descriptive Epidemiology in Public Health 38 Graphical Models of Causal Links 42 References 44 6 Descriptive Epidemiology in Genetic Epidemiology 45 Occurrence Data in Genetic Epidemiology 45 Clustering of Traits and Diseases in Families 46 The Occurrence of Genetic Diseases 48 References 49 7 Descriptive Epidemiology in Clinical Epidemiology 50 Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) 51 Cytological Screening for Cervix Cancer 52 Changes in Treatment of Juvenile Diabetes 53 References 54 Part II Analytical Epidemiology 55 8 Design Options 56 Common Designs Used to Estimate Associations 56 Ecological Study 57 Case--Control Study 59 Cohort Study 60 Experimental Study 61 Reference 62 9 Follow-Up Studies 63 The Non-experimental Follow-Up (Cohort) Study 63 Studying Risk as a Function of BMI 64 Longitudinal Exposure Data 66 Different Types of Cohort or Follow-Up Studies 67 10 CaseControl Studies 70 Case--Cohort Sampling 72 Density Sampling of Controls 72 Case--Non-case Study 74 Patient Controls 75 Secondary Identification of the Source Population 77 Case--Control Studies Using Prevalent Cases 77 When to Do a CaseControl Study? 80 References 81 11 The Cross-Sectional Study 82 12 The Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) 83 Reference 86 13 Analytical Epidemiology in Public Health 87 The Case-Crossover Study 88 References 89 14 Analytical Epidemiology in Genetic Epidemiology 90 Disentangling the Basis for Clustering in Families 90 Adoption Studies 90 Twin Studies 91 Half-Sib Studies 91 Interpretation of Heritability 92 Exposure--Disease Associations Through Studies of Relatives 92 Gene--Environment Interaction 93 Cross--Sectional Studies of Genetic Polymorphisms 94 Incorporation of Genetic Variables in Epidemiologic Studies 94 References 95 15 Analytical Epidemiology in Clinical Epidemiology 96 Common Designs Used to Estimate Associations 96 Case-Reports and Cross-Sectional Studies 96 Case--Control Studies 97 Cohort Studies 98 Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) 99 References 100 Part III Sources of Error 101 16 Confounding and Bias 102 Reference 104 17 Confounding 105 References 109 18 Information Bias 110 References 114 19 Selection Bias 115 Reference 118 20 Making Inference and Making Decisions 119 References 123 21 Sources of Error in Public Health Epidemiology 124 Berkson Bias 126 Mendelian Randomization 127 References 129 22 Sources of Error in Genetic Epidemiology 130 Multiple Testing 130 Population Stratification 131 Laboratory Errors 131 23 Sources of Error in Clinical Epidemiology 133 Confounding by Indication 133 Differential Misclassification of Outcome 134 Differential Misclassification of Exposure 135 Selection Bias 136 References 136 Part IV Statistics in Epidemiology 138 Additive Model 138 Multiplicative Model 139 Reference 143 24 P Values 144 25 Calculating Confidence Intervals 147 Back-matter 149 Epilogue 149 Reference 149 Index 151 Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Measures of Disease Occurrence....Pages 3-13 Estimates of Associations....Pages 15-17 Age Standardization....Pages 19-21 Causes of Diseases....Pages 23-28 Descriptive Epidemiology in Public Health....Pages 29-35 Descriptive Epidemiology in Genetic Epidemiology....Pages 37-41 Descriptive Epidemiology in Clinical Epidemiology....Pages 43-47 Front Matter....Pages 49-49 Design Options....Pages 51-57 Follow-Up Studies....Pages 59-65 Case–Control Studies....Pages 67-78 The Cross-Sectional Study....Pages 79-79 The Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)....Pages 81-84 Analytical Epidemiology in Public Health....Pages 85-87 Analytical Epidemiology in Genetic Epidemiology....Pages 89-94 Analytical Epidemiology in Clinical Epidemiology....Pages 95-99 Front Matter....Pages 101-101 Confounding and Bias....Pages 103-105 Confounding....Pages 107-111 Information Bias....Pages 113-117 Selection Bias....Pages 119-122 Making Inference and Making Decisions....Pages 123-127 Front Matter....Pages 101-101 Sources of Error in Public Health Epidemiology....Pages 129-134 Sources of Error in Genetic Epidemiology....Pages 135-137 Sources of Error in Clinical Epidemiology....Pages 139-143 Front Matter....Pages 145-150 P Values....Pages 151-153 Calculating Confidence Intervals....Pages 155-156 Erratum to: An Introduction to Epidemiology for Health Professionals....Pages 157-157 Back Matter....Pages 159-163 Today, the public worries about emerging diseases and rapid changes of the frequency of well known diseases like autism, diabetes and obesity making the word epidemic part of the general discussion. Epidemiology should therefore be a basic component of medical training, yet often it is undertaught or even neglected. Concise and readable while also rigorous and thorough, An Introduction to Epidemiology for Health Professionals goes beyond standard textbook content to ground the reader in scientific methods most relevant to the current health landscape and the evolution of evidence-based medicine—valuable keys to better understanding of disease process, effective prevention, and targeted treatment.