Principles of Epidemiology
EPID 571 Saba Masho, MD, MPH, DrPH
Semester course; 3 lecture. 3 credits. Prerequisite: BIOS 543. The course offers the theoretical foundations, concepts and principles of epidemiological research methods utilized to examine the distribution and determinants of diseases or other health problems. It entails the understanding of measures of disease frequency and association, descriptive and analytic studies, community surveys, sampling, bias, confounding, surveillance, outbreak investigation, screening and research proposal writing. Furthermore, the course provides basic foundations for data analysis and its translation into health care planning, management and policy formulation. Fall semester.
Fall Semester 2004
Syllabus
Instructor: Saba Masho, M.D., Dr.P.H.
E-mail: swmasho@vcu.edu
Phone: (804) 828-9785
Fax: (804) 828 –9773
Office Hours: Monday – Friday 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Make appointment (e-mail or call)
MPH Program Mission Statement
The mission of the Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia’s MPH program is to promote, preserve, and restore health. This mission is accomplished by training students to be effective practitioners of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to effectively conduct public health needs assessment of populations; perform program planning and evaluation; conduct appropriate research to address identified needs; and to work with communities to generally enhance, protect, and promote the health and well-being of populations at risk.
The MPH program emphasizes community service for underserved populations by working closely with local counties, municipalities, and state agencies, as well as to develop professional opportunities for program students and graduates. The program is also designed to enhance the University’s mission and the School of Medicine Strategic Plan.
Americans with Disabilities Act Notice
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires Virginia Commonwealth University to provide reasonable accommodation to any individual who advises us of a physical or mental disability. If you have a disability, which requires accommodation, please arrange a meeting with me to discuss this as soon as possible.
“Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 require Virginia Commonwealth University to provide an ‘academic adjustment’ and/or a ‘reasonable accommodation’ to any individual who advises us of a physical or mental disability. If you have a physical or mental limitation that requires an academic adjustment or an accommodation, please arrange a meeting with me at your earliest convenience. Additionally, if your coursework requires you to work in a lab environment, you should advise the instructor or department chairperson of any concerns you may have regarding safety issues related to your limitation(s).”
Honor System Notice
All students are at all times expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the VCU Honor Code, the full text of which can be found at the University’s website (http://www.vcu.edu/safweb/rg/policies/rg7honor.html). It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with its provisions. In brief, however, appropriate conduct includes but is not limited to:
- refraining from committing any act of cheating, plagiarizing, facilitating academic dishonesty, abusing academic materials, stealing, lying, or soliciting others to engage in any of the above;
- refraining from acts of intimidation, threats of physical harm, or threats of retribution in an attempt to prevent the testimony of another member of the University Community at any time after charges have been made; and
- reporting every instance in which there is suspicion or knowledge that academic conduct, which violates this policy or its spirit, has taken place to the faculty member responsible for instruction, or to a member of the MCV Honor Council.
I. Course Description
The principles of epidemiology course is an entry-level course for public health students and professionals, medical doctors, medical students, nursing and other students in the health sciences disciplines. This course covers basic epidemiology principles and procedures. The course is designed to introduce students to the concepts of epidemiological research methods and their practical applications in understanding the distribution and determinants of diseases. The course will also introduce the basic concept of epidemiologic research design, data analysis and its translation into health care planning, management and policy formulation.
II. Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the key features and applications of epidemiological study designs.
- Calculate and interpret measures used in epidemiology such as, ratios, proportions and rates.
- Calculate and understand basic statistical methods used to determine associations in epidemiology.
- Write epidemiologic research proposals.
- Understand commonly used sampling methods in epidemiological studies.
- Process, use and evaluate public health surveillance.
- Understand the steps of outbreak investigation.
- Understand and evaluate screening procedures.
- Understand how epidemiology data relates to health policy, planning and health care management.
Text and Materials
Handout Will be provided
Books
- Essentials of Epidemiology in Public Health by Aschengrau and Seage III
- Epidemiology in Medicine by Hennekens & Buring
- Foundations of Epidemiology 3 rd Ed. Lilienfeld & Stolley
Course Evaluation
1) Homework assignments including group assignment 30%
2) Midterm exam 20%
3) Final exam 20%
4) Research proposal-writing project 30%
Homework Assignments
Homework assignments will be given at the end of each section. The assignments will help students to apply concepts covered in the class under challenging scenarios. Homework is given out at the end of the class and is due a week after. The homework assignments will be discussed in the class.
Research Proposal Writing Project
Each student will pick a research area of interest. Students are expected to use epidemiologic research methods discussed in class and complete the proposal by November 18, 2004. Students will be guided in the class as well as individually on how to write the proposal. The term paper should not be more than 12 double spaced pages.
Group project
Students will be asked to form a group of five or less. An article will be distributed to each group a week before the presentation as a reading assignment. The groups will have a chance to discuss the article in the class before presentations are made. Each group will be given 15 minutes to make a presentation followed by a five minutes question and answer session.
Date |
Topic |
Reading
|
08/26 |
Introduction to Epidemiology Define epidemiology, summarize the historical evolution of epidemiology, describe the elements of case definition, descriptive & analytic epidemiology, causation in epidemiology, epidemiologic triad, application of epidemiology in public health, modes of disease transmission |
Hand out
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 3-32
Hennekens & Buring Pages 4-53
Lilienfeld & Stolley Pages 3-56 |
09/02 |
Measures of Disease Frequency – prevalence, incidence, rates, ratios, proportions, adjusted/standardized rates
Introduction to research proposal writing.
Framing research questions and choosing research area.
Homework Assignment #1 given including topic for research proposal |
Hand out
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 33-57
Hennekens & Buring Page 54-72
Lilienfeld & Stolley Pages 59-76
|
09/09 |
Measures of Association – understanding data, cause-effect relationship, statistical association, hypothesis testing, relative risk, odds ratio, standardized mortality ratios, attributable risk, interpretation of measures of association and presentation of data.
Homework assignment #1 due Homework Assignment #2given |
Hand out
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 58-73
Hennekens & Buring Page 73-100
|
09/16 |
Types of Epidemiologic Studies: Descriptive studies, such as correlational studies, case studies, case reports, case series studies and cross- sectional studies. Hypothesis formulation from descriptive studies.
Literature review and writing significance of study Review homework assignment #1 Topic for research proposal due Homework Assignment #2 due Homework Assignment #3 given including rationale for the proposed study topic
|
Hand out
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 95-134
Hennekens & Buring Pages 101 - 131
|
09/23 |
Observational Studies: Design, conduct, strength and weakness of case-control and cohort studies.
Review homework assignment #2 Homework assignment #3 due
|
Hand out
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 135-162, 193-250
Hennekens & Buring Page 132-177
Lilienfeld & Stolley Page 198 - 252
|
09/30 |
Continued Observational Studies. Experimental Study Designs: randomized clinical trials, community trials, and unique problems of intervention study designs.
Introduction to writing methods section
Review homework assignment #3 Research proposal rationale due Homework assignment #4 given including methods section of research proposal |
Hand out
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 163-192
Hennekens & Buring Page 178 - 213
Lilienfeld & Stolley Page 155 –197 |
10/07 |
Sampling methods: applications of the most common sampling methods such as, random sampling, stratified sampling, clustered sampling etc. Sample size and power calculation The concept of normal distribution and skewness. Description and summarization of data: Variable definition, types, data presentation and summarization.
Homework assignment #4 due Homework assignment #5 given |
Hand out
Hennekens & Buring Page 215-228, 258-263
Lilienfeld & Stolley Chapter 255-268
|
10/14 |
Mid-term |
|
10/21 |
Data analysis: Hypothesis testing, inference and estimation. Measures of Central Tendencies and Dispersion – calculate and interpret mean, median, mode, ranges, variance, standard deviation and confidence interval. Introduction to basic statistical analysis methods and the two by two table.
Writing data analysis section of the proposal
Review homework assignment #4 Homework assignment #5 due Methods section of the proposal due Begin working on data analysis plan for the research proposal |
Hand out Aschengrau & Seage III Page 375-400
Hennekens & Buring Page 231-235
|
10/28 |
Issues in analyzing epidemiologic studies: bias, confounders and effect modifiers.
Review homework assignment #5 Homework assignment #6 given including data analysis plan for the research proposal |
Hand out
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 251-347
Hennekens & Buring Page 272-327
|
11/04 |
Introduction to community surveys and designing questionnaire Public Health Surveillance: process, uses, and evaluation of public health surveillance.
Review homework assignment #6 Research data analysis plan due Begin working on the abstract, title page, table of content, references and appendix if applicable |
Hand out |
11/11 |
Continued public health surveillance. Outbreak investigation: steps of outbreak investigation. |
Hand out |
11/18 |
Screening: screening test and evaluation of screening programs.
|
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 402-430
Hand out
Articles |
11/25 |
Thanksgiving |
No class
|
12/02 |
Practical application of epidemiologic studies and ethical considerations
Overview on how to review and critique a research article. Groups will be formed and articles will be distributed.
Homework assignment #7 given Article critique Completed research proposal due |
Aschengrau & Seage III Page 348-374 |
12/09 |
Article critique
Review for finals
|
Group discussion and presentation
|
12/16 |
Finals week |
|
