MPH1012

Epidemiology and biostatistics

Dr M Abramson and Dr A Mylvaganam

1 hour 45 minutes per week over 14 weeks * First semester

Synopsis This subject aims to provide students with basic skills required in public and occupational health. It is a prerequisite for epidemiology research methods, clinical epidemiology advanced statistics and many other units. Whilst minimal previous knowledge is assumed, the learning curve is fairly steep. The epidemiology component covers rates, sources of data, descriptive and analytical epidemiology, epidemiological study designs, critical appraisal of literature, diagnostic tests and screening. The biostatistics component covers descriptive statistics, probability distributions, estimation and confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance and regression, contingency tables and selection of appropriate statistical tests.

Assessment Assignments * Examination

Prescribed texts

Dawson-Saunders B and Trapp R Basic and clinical biostatistics Prentice-Hall, 1990
Hennekens C H and Buring J E Epidemiology in medicine Little Brown, 1987
Last J M (ed.) A dictionary of epidemiology 2nd edn, OUP, 1988
Rowntree D Statistics without tears: A primer for non-mathematicians Penguin, 1981