Basic Principles And Practical Applications In Epidemiological Research

Based on the concept of ?conjecture and refutation? from the Popperian philosophy of science, i.e. looking for alternative causes, this book simplifies the design and inferences of human observational studies into two types: descriptive and causal. It clarifies how and why causal inference should be considered from the search for alternative explanations or causes, and descriptive inference from the sample at hand to the source population. Furthermore, it links the health policy and epidemiological concept with decisional questions, for which the basic measurement can be quality-adjusted survival time or quality-adjusted life year.

This text is an easy-to-understand, application-oriented guidebook for learning the basic principles of epidemiologic investigation. Numerous opportunities are presented to apply and test learning through problems and application exercises. Answers are provided.

Now updated with new data and examples throughout, Clinical Epidemiology: Principles, Methods, and Applications for Clinical Research, Second Edition is a comprehensive resource that introduces the reader to the basics of clinical epidemiology and explores the principles and methods that can be used to obtain quantitative evidence on the effects of interventions and on the diagnosis, etiology, and prognosis of disease. The everyday challenges of clinical research and the quantitative knowledge required to practice medicine are also examined, making this book a valuable reference for both graduate and undergraduate students in medicine and related disciplines, as well as for professionals involved in the design and conduct of clinical research.

Epidemiologic Research Principles and Quantitative Methods DavidG. Kleinbaum, Ph.D. Lawrence L. Kupper. Ph.D. Hal Morgenstern,Ph.D. Epidemiologic Research covers the principles and methodsof planning, analysis and interpretation of epidemiologic researchstudies. It supplies the applied researcher with the mostup-to-date methodological thought and practice. Specifically, thebook focuses on quantitative (including statistical) issues arisingfrom epidemiologic investigations, as well as on the questions ofstudy design, measurement and validity. EpidemiologicResearch emphasizes practical techniques, procedures andstrategies. It presents them through a unified approach whichfollows the chronology of issues that arise during theinvestigation of an epidemic. The book's viewpoint ismultidisciplinary and equally useful to the epidemiologicresearcher and to the biostatistician. Theory is supplemented bynumerous examples, exercises and applications. Full solutions aregiven to all exercises in a separate solutions manual. Importantfeatures * Thorough discussion of the methodology of epidemiologicresearch * Stress on validity and hence on reliability * Balanced approach, presenting the most important prevailingviewpoints * Three chapters with applications of mathematical modeling

The second edition of this internationally acclaimed title is the ideal handbook for those involved in conducting epidemiological research. The objective of most epidemiological studies is to relate exposure to putative causal agents to the occurrence of a particular disease. The achievement of this objective depends critically on accurate measurement of exposure. This book reviews principles and techniques that can be applied to measuring a wide range of exposures, including demographic, behavioral, medical, genetic, and environmental factors. The book covers questionnaire design, conducting personal interviews, abstracting information from medical records, use of proxy respondents, and ascertaining biological and environmental measurements. It gives a comprehensive account of measurement error and the estimation of its effects, and the design, analysis, and interpretation of validity and reliability studies. Emphasis is given to the ways in which the validity of measurements can be increased. Techniques to maximize participation of subjects in epidemiological studies are discussed, and ethical issues relevant to exposure measurement are outlined.

The book is organized so as to address in separate sections first the preparatory topics of medicine (clinical and epidemiological), science in general, and statistics (mathematical); then topics of epidemiological research proper; and, finally, topics of ‘meta-epidemiological’ clinical research. In those two main sections, a further grouping is based on the distraction between objects and methods of study. In this framework, the particular topics are addressed both descriptively and quasi-prescriptively, commonly with a number of explicatory annotations. This book is intended to serve as a handbook for whomever is, in whatever way, concerned with epidemiological or ‘meta-epidemiological’ clinical research. But besides this, it is also intended to serve as a textbook for students in introductory courses on ‘epidemiological’ research – to which end there is a suggested hierarchy of the concepts that might reasonably be covered.

First edition published in 2002. Second edition published in 2008.