Category: Epidemiology

P.Mean >> Category >> Epidemiology (created 2007-12-05).

These pages describe the practice of epidemiology.

Articles are arranged by date with the most recent entries at the top. You can find outside resources at the bottom of this page. Other entries about Epidemiology can be found in the Epidemiology page at the StATS website.

2010

P.Mean: What is a good surrogate measure for socioeconomic status (created 2010-05-03). I received a question, indirectly, about what might be a good surrogate measure for socioeconomic status (SES). That raises two questions, actually. What is SES, and how can we tell if a surrogate is a good surrogate for SES.

Theme and closely related categories:

Outside resources:

Raj Bhopal. Seven mistakes and potential solutions in epidemiology, including a call for a World Council of Epidemiology and Causality. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology. 2009;6(1):6. Abstract: "All sciences make mistakes, and epidemiology is no exception. I have chosen 7 illustrative mistakes and derived 7 solutions to avoid them. The mistakes (Roman numerals denoting solutions) are: 1. Failing to provide the context and definitions of study populations. (I Describe the study population in detail.). 2. Insufficient attention to evaluation of error. (II Don't pretend error does not exist.). 3. Not demonstrating comparisons are like-for-like. (III Start with detailed comparisons of groups.). 4. Either overstatement or understatement of the case for causality. (IV Never say this design cannot contribute to causality or imply causality is ensured by your design.). 5. Not providing both absolute and relative summary measures. (V Give numbers, rates and comparative measures, and adjust summary measures such as odds ratios appropriately.). 6. In intervention studies not demonstrating general health benefits. (VI Ensure general benefits (mortality/morbidity) before recommending application of cause-specific findings.). 7. Failure to utilise study data to benefit populations. (VII Establish a World Council on Epidemiology to help infer causality from associations and apply the work internationally.). Analysis of these and other common mistakes is needed to benefit from the increasing discovery of associations that will be multiplying as data mining, linkage, and large-scale scale epidemiology become commonplace." [Accessed December 10, 2009]. Available at: http://www.ete-online.com/content/6/1/6.
Statistical Methods in Cancer Research. Breslow NE, Day NE (1980) Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Statistical Methods in Cancer Research. Breslow NE, Day NE (1987) London: Oxford University Press.
Research Methods in Occupational Epidemiology. Checkoway H, Pearce NE, Crawford-Brown DJ (1989) Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Primer of Epidemiology. Friedman GD (1994) New York: McGraw Hill, Inc.
Epidemiology Kept Simple An Introduction to Classic and Modern Epidemiology. Gerstman BB (1998) New York: Wiley-Liss.
Epidemiology in Medicine. Hennekens CH, Buring JE (1987) Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Statistical Methods in Epidemiology. Kahn H, Sempos C (1989) New York: Oxford University Press.
Clinical Epidemiology & Evidence-Based Medicine Fundamental Principles of Clinical Reasoning & Research. Katz DL (2001) Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.
Methods in Observational Epidemiology. Kelsey JL, Whittemore AS, Evans AS, Thompson DW (1996) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Epidemiologic Research. Kleinbaum DG, Kupper LL, Morgenstern H (1982) Belmont, California: Lifetime Learning Publications.
Epidemiologic Research Principles and Quantitative Methods. Kleinbaum DG, Kupper LL, Morgenstern H (1982) New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
A Dictionary of Epidemiology. Last JM (2001) New York: Oxford.
Epidemiological Research Methods. McNeil D (1996) New York: John Wiley & Sons.
PDQ Epidemiology. Streiner DL, PhD, Norman GR, PhD (1996) St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby.
The Search for New Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease: Occupational Therapy for Epidemiologists. Beaglehole R, Magnus, P. Int J Epidemiology 2002: 31(6); 1117-22.
Which book? A comparative review of 25 introductory epidemiology textbooks. Bhopal R. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 1997: 51(6); 612-22. [Medline]
A bibliography and comments on the use of statistical models in epidemiology in the 1980s. Gail M. Statistics in Medicine 1991: 10; 1819-1885.
The epidemiology of rotavirus infections: a global perspective. Haffejee I. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 1995: 20(3); 275-86.
Epidemiology research. Kaptchuk TJ. Lancet 2002: 360(9328); 259. [Medline]
A life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology. Kuh E. British Medical Journal 1998: 317(?); 421. [Full text] [PDF]
Actual Causes of Death in the United States. McGinnis J, Foege W. JAMA 1993: 270(18); 2207-2212.
Epidemiology on trial-confessions of an expert witness. McPherson K. Lancet 2002: 360(9337); 889. [Medline]
Nonlinearity in the Epidemiology of Complex Health and Disease Processes. Philippe P, Mansi O. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 1998: 19(6); 591-607.
Epidemiology-is it time to call it a day? Smith G, Ebrahim S. Int J Epidemiol 2001: 30(1); 1-11.
The uses of 'Uses of epidemiology'. Smith GD. Int J Epidemiol 2001: 30(5); 1146-55.
Epidemiology faces its limits. Taubes G. Science 1995: 269(5221); 164-9.
Statistical methods applied in microbiology and epidemiology. Tillett H, Carpenter R. Epidemiol. Infect. 1991: 107(3); 467-478. [Medline]
Epidemiology for the Uninitiated. Coggon D, Rose G, Barker D. Accessed on 2002-11-27. bmj.com/epidem/
DIMACS Working Group on Adverse Event/Disease Reporting, Surveillance, and Analysis. Rutgers University. Accessed on 2003-04-28. dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/AdverseEvent/index.html
FOCUS on Field Epidemiology. Ryder RW, North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness. Accessed on 2003-11-10. www.sph.unc.edu/nccphp/focus/index.htm
Epidemiology learning materials. Schoenbach VJ. Accessed on 2002-11-27. www.epidemiolog.net/

Web pages

Epidemiology for the Uninitiated. D Coggon, Geoffrey Rose and DJP Barker. Accessed on 2002-11-27. "Epidemiology is the study of how often diseases occur in different groups of people and why. Epidemiological information is used to plan and evaluate strategies to prevent illness and as a guide to the management of patients in whom disease has already developed." bmj.com/epidem/

Epidemiology learning materials. Victor J. Schoenbach. Accessed on 2002-11-27. "This web site has been created as a vehicle for disseminating the current version of Understanding the fundamentals of epidemiology - an evolving text and other learning materials developed during 21 years of teaching EPID168, the introductory course for majors in the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, ideally with refinements and additions to come." www.epidemiolog.net/

Exact confidence interval for Poisson count. Tomas Aragon and Travis Porco. Accessed on 2002-11-27. "These functions calculate the exact confidence intervals for an observed count with a Poisson distribution. By default, ci.poisson calculates the 95% confidence interval for the observed count x. This function calls two other functions which use the bisection method to calculate the exact confidence interval: lci.poisson and uci.poisson." www.medepi.org/epitools/rfunctions/cipois.html

Books

Research Methods in Occupational Epidemiology. Harvey Checkoway, Neil E. Pearce and Douglas J. Crawford-Brown (1989) Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

Primer of Epidemiology. Gary D. Friedman (1994) New York: McGraw Hill, Inc.

Epidemiology Kept Simple An Introduction to Classic and Modern Epidemiology. Burt B. Gerstman (1998) New York: Wiley-Liss.

Epidemiology in Medicine. Charles H. Hennekens and Julie E. Buring (1987) Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Statistical Methods in Epidemiology. HA Kahn and CT Sempos (1989) New York: Oxford University Press.

Clinical Epidemiology & Evidence-Based Medicine Fundamental Principles of Clinical Reasoning & Research. David L. Katz (2001) Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.

Methods in Observational Epidemiology. Jennifer L. Kelsey, Alice S. Whittemore, Alfred S. Evans and Douglas W. Thompson (1996) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

A Dictionary of Epidemiology. John M. Last (2001) New York: Oxford.

PDQ Epidemiology. David L. Streiner, PhD and Geoffrey R. Norman, PhD (1996) St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby.

General references

Which book? A comparative review of 25 introductory epidemiology textbooks. R. Bhopal. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 1997:51(6);612-22. Abstract not available yet. [Medline]

A bibliography and comments on the use of statistical models in epidemiology in the 1980s. Mitchell Gail. Statistics in Medicine 1991:10(1819-1885. Abstract not available yet.

Epidemiology on trial-confessions of an expert witness. K. McPherson. Lancet 2002:360(9337);889. Abstract not available yet. [Medline]

Epidemiology-is it time to call it a day? G. Smith and S. Ebrahim. Int J Epidemiol 2001:30(1);p1-11. Abstract not available.

Journal article: G Taubes. Epidemiology faces its limits Science. 1995;269(5221):164 -169. Excerpt: "The search for subtle links between diet, lifestyle, or environmental factors and disease is an unending source of fear--but often yields little certainty." [Accessed on November 9, 2011]. http://geography.ssc.uwo.ca/faculty/baxter/readings/Taubes_limits_epidemiology_Science_1995.pdf

Epidemiology on trial. Author Unknown. Lancet 2002:360(9331);421.

Reformatted list

The Search for New Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease: Occupational Therapy for Epidemiologists. Beaglehole R, Magnus, P. Int J Epidemiology 2002: 31(6); 1117-22.

Which book? A comparative review of 25 introductory epidemiology textbooks. Bhopal R. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 1997: 51(6); 612-22. [Medline]

Statistical Methods in Cancer Research. Breslow NE, Day NE (1980) Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Statistical Methods in Cancer Research. Breslow NE, Day NE (1987) London: Oxford University Press.

Research Methods in Occupational Epidemiology. Checkoway H, Pearce NE, Crawford-Brown DJ (1989) Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

Epidemiology for the Uninitiated. Coggon D, Rose G, Barker D. Accessed on 2002-11-27. bmj.com/epidem/

Primer of Epidemiology. Friedman GD (1994) New York: McGraw Hill, Inc.

A bibliography and comments on the use of statistical models in epidemiology in the 1980s. Gail M. Statistics in Medicine 1991: 10; 1819-1885.

Epidemiology Kept Simple An Introduction to Classic and Modern Epidemiology. Gerstman BB (1998) New York: Wiley-Liss.

The epidemiology of rotavirus infections: a global perspective. Haffejee I. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 1995: 20(3); 275-86.

Epidemiology in Medicine. Hennekens CH, Buring JE (1987) Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Statistical Methods in Epidemiology. Kahn H, Sempos C (1989) New York: Oxford University Press.

Epidemiology research. Kaptchuk TJ. Lancet 2002: 360(9328); 259. [Medline]

Clinical Epidemiology & Evidence-Based Medicine Fundamental Principles of Clinical Reasoning & Research. Katz DL (2001) Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.

Methods in Observational Epidemiology. Kelsey JL, Whittemore AS, Evans AS, Thompson DW (1996) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Epidemiologic Research. Kleinbaum DG, Kupper LL, Morgenstern H (1982) Belmont, California: Lifetime Learning Publications.

Epidemiologic Research Principles and Quantitative Methods. Kleinbaum DG, Kupper LL, Morgenstern H (1982) New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

A life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology. Kuh E. British Medical Journal 1998: 317(?); 421. [Full text] [PDF]

A Dictionary of Epidemiology. Last JM (2001) New York: Oxford.

Actual Causes of Death in the United States. McGinnis J, Foege W. JAMA 1993: 270(18); 2207-2212.

Epidemiological Research Methods. McNeil D (1996) New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Epidemiology on trial-confessions of an expert witness. McPherson K. Lancet 2002: 360(9337); 889. [Medline]

Nonlinearity in the Epidemiology of Complex Health and Disease Processes. Philippe P, Mansi O. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 1998: 19(6); 591-607.

DIMACS Working Group on Adverse Event/Disease Reporting, Surveillance, and Analysis. Rutgers University. Accessed on 2003-04-28. dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/AdverseEvent/index.html

FOCUS on Field Epidemiology. Ryder RW, Norht Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness. Accessed on 2003-11-10. www.sph.unc.edu/nccphp/focus/index.htm

Epidemiology learning materials. Schoenbach VJ. Accessed on 2002-11-27. www.epidemiolog.net/

Epidemiology-is it time to call it a day? Smith G, Ebrahim S. Int J Epidemiol 2001: 30(1); 1-11.

The uses of 'Uses of epidemiology'. Smith GD. Int J Epidemiol 2001: 30(5); 1146-55.

PDQ Epidemiology. Streiner DL, PhD, Norman GR, PhD (1996) St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby.

Epidemiology faces its limits. Taubes G. Science 1995: 269(5221); 164-9.

Statistical methods applied in microbiology and epidemiology. Tillett H, Carpenter R. Epidemiol. Infect. 1991: 107(3); 467-478. [Medline]

Epidemiology on trial. Unknown A. Lancet 2002: 360(9331); 421. [Medline]

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All of the material above this paragraph is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. This page was written by Steve Simon and was last modified on 2010-11-22. The material below this paragraph links to my old website, StATS. Although I wrote all of the material listed below, my ex-employer, Children's Mercy Hospital, has claimed copyright ownership of this material. The brief excerpts shown here are included under the fair use provisions of U.S. Copyright laws.