340.706.11 METHODS AND APPLICATIONS OF COHORT STUDIES

Discusses definition and basic characteristics of cohort studies; graphical methods in epidemiology; methods to estimate and compare incidence rates, including Poisson regression; methods for the analysis of disease-free and survival times; estimation and testing of relative hazards (Cox regression) and of relative times (parametric regression); regression trees for the analysis of prognostic markers; parametric survival analysis and taxonomy of hazards functions using generalized gamma models; methods to nest case-control and case-cohort designs in cohort studies; random effects models for longitudinal data; and the role of cohort studies in evaluating interventions and in guiding public policy. Methods will be illustrated using cohort studies in which faculty have been directly involved. Prerequisite: Intermediate-level courses in both epidemiology and biostatistics and some familiarity with data analysis software packages.

Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to: 1. Describe the principles for the design and conduct of cohort studies; 2. Estimate and compare incidence rates, and times-to-event via relative hazards and relative times; 3. Apply analytic methods to data from large, long-term and multicenter cohort studies coordinated by the instructors’ research team; 4. Appreciate the role of cohort studies for the characterization of natural history of diseases; for evaluation of interventions and for guiding public policy