340.608.11 OBSERVATIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGY

This course expands upon material presented in Principles of Epidemiology (340.601) and provides an opportunity to learn more about epidemiologic concepts as applied to cohort and case-control studies in the published literature. Emphasizes interpretation and the ability to critically evaluate observational study designs and methods of data analysis. Intermediate concepts include measures of association, bias, confounding, interaction/effect modification, and epidemiologic inference, and are illustrated in the context of published observational studies.

Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to: 1. Discuss models and inference underlying observational studies 2. Describe approaches for constructing measures of disease occurrence and association 3. Describe and recognize potential causes of confounding in epidemiologic studies 4. Identify key considerations for exposure-disease summarization 5. Characterize sources of bias in observational studies 6. Link scientific questions with appropriate analytical methods