550.694.81 FUNDAMENTALS OF EPIDEMIOLOGY I

Introduces students to the basic concepts of biostatistics and epidemiology as applied to public health problems. Emphasizes descriptive statistics, probability concepts, and methodology used in the conduct of epidemiologic studies. Topics include appropriate summary measures of morbidity and mortality, direct and indirect methods of adjustment, abridged and clinical life tables, and measures of association. Presents various epidemiologic study designs used to investigate associations between risk factors and diseases outcomes, culminating with criteria for casual inferences. Provides examples of applications of epidemiologic and biostatistical methods in health services, genetics and public policy.

Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to: 1. Distinguish the roles and relationships between epidemiology and biostatistics in the prevention of disease and the improvement of health. 2. Compute basic descriptive statistics and explore data analytic methods. 3. Demonstrate a basic understanding of epidemiologic methods and study design. 4. Combine appropriate epidemiological concepts and statistical methods. 5. Perform exploratory data analysis using descriptive statistics. 6. Evaluate morbidity and mortality using ratios, proportions, and rates. 7. Perform direct and indirect methods of adjustment of overall rates. 8. Construct life tables in epidemiologic studies. 9. Recognize the assumptions associated with construction of a life table. 10. Calculate probabilities and conditional probabilities of health-related events. 11. Calculate sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values. 12. Recognize and describe the elements in the design and conduct of a randomized clinical trial, a cohort study, a case-control study, and a cross-sectional study. 13. Calculate measures of association in identifying risk factors of diseases. 14. Calculate a chi-square statistic to test the significance of a measure of association and interpret it using probability concepts. 15. Identify biases and their consequences in published literature. 16. Describe criteria for characterizing the causality of associations. 17. Recognize the presence of effect modifiers. 18. Explain the use of epidemiology in the genetics application. 19. Explain the use of epidemiology in the evaluation of screening process. 20. Describe the impact of epidemiology on national and local policy. 21. Describe the influence of epidemiology on ethical and professional issues.