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Syllabus

Epidemiologic Methods EPI203

Date/Time Activity Topic/Content Faculty Locations
Tues 9/22/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Introduction, Study Design

Designs where the unit of observation is a group of individuals vs. the individual; ecological fallacy; types of studies with observations on the individual; cohort study as gold standard of observational designs; concept of study base linking cohort and case-control designs

Required Reading:

  1. Wacholder, S. Selection of controls in case-control studies. Am J Epidemiol. 1992; 135: 1019-1028. Focus on "Study Base Principle," p. 1021-1024. PubMed ID 1595688
  2. S & N: Ch. 1, p. 3 - 33

Note/Slide Files: Introductory_Comments_2009_revised.ppt (87 KB) Study_Design_2009.ppt (556 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 1 Study Design 2009.doc (48 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Sept. 29

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 1 Study Design 2009 Answer key.doc (64 KB)

A SchwartzCB 6702
Tues 9/29/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Measures of Disease Occurrence I

Prevalence vs. incidence; the three elements in measuring disease occurrence; the concept of a rate; cumulative incidence vs. person-time incidence; concepts of survival analysis—failure time and censoring; calculating cumulative incidence—Kaplan Meier and life table methods

Required Reading:

  1. Tapia Granados, JA. On the terminology and dimensions of incidence. J Clin Epidemiol. 1997; 50: 891-897
  2. S & N: Ch. 2

Note/Slide Files: Announcements_Week_2.ppt (187 KB) Disease_Occurrence_I_2009.ppt (638 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 2 Disease Occurrence I 2009.doc (64 KB) Summary of basic Stata 11 st commands.doc (32 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Oct. 6

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 2 Disease Occurrence I Answer Key 2009.doc (178 KB)

Dataset Files: Epi203survival.dta (11 KB)

A SchwartzCB 6702
Tues 9/29/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 10/6/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Measures of Disease Occurrence II

Person-time incidence rates; rate is not a proportion; instantaneous rate; person-time based on grouped data vs. individual data; assumption that ratio of time to number in denominator does not matter; stratified person-time exposure in cohort studies; relationship of prevalence to incidence.

Required Reading:

  1. S & N: Ch. 2

Optional Reading:

  1. Chapter 3: Measuring Disease Occurence and Causal Effects in Epidemiology: An Introduction.
  2. Tager, IB. Outcomes in cohort studies. Epidemiol Rev. 1998;20(1):15-28. PMID: 9762506

Note/Slide Files: Disease_Occurrence_II_2009.ppt (1361 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem set 3 Disease Occurrence II 2009.doc (61 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Oct. 13

Assignment Answer Files: Problem set 3 Disease Occurrence II Answer Key 2009.doc (73 KB)

A SchwartzCB 6702
Tues 10/6/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 10/6/2009
3:15 PM-4:15 PM		Other

Journal Club

Application of concepts learned in the course to date in the critical dissection of an article in the applied literature

Required Reading:

  1. Ondrusova and Ondrus. Epidemiology and treatment delay in testicular cancer patients: a retrospective study. Int Urol Nephrol 40:143-148, 2008.

Note/Slide Files: Journal_Club_1_KEY.doc (58 KB)

J MartinCB 6702
Tues 10/13/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Measures of Disease Association I

Measures of association of disease incidence in a cohort; incidence difference versus incidence ratio; risk ratio vs. rate ratio; 2x2 table for exposure and disease measures of association; odds ratio for disease equals odds ratio for exposure; relative risk vs. odds ratio; prevalence ratio.

Required Reading:

  1. Schulman, et al. The effect of race and sex on physicians’ recommendations for cardiac catheterization. NEJM 1999; 340: 618-626
  2. Schwartz, et al. Misunderstandings about the effects of race and sex on physicians’ referrals for cardiac catheterization. NEJM 1999; 341: 279-283
  3. S & N: Ch. 3, except sections 3.2.2 and 3.4.2 (i.e., skip attributable risk); Appendix A3

Note/Slide Files: Disease Association I 2009.ppt (1036 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 4 Disease Association I 2009.doc (50 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Oct. 20

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 4 Disease Association I 2009 Answer Key.doc (119 KB)

A SchwartzCB 6702
Tues 10/13/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 10/20/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Measures of Disease Association II

Measures of association in a case-control study; equivalence of odds ratio to other measures of risk depending on study design; rare disease assumption; case-cohort design; nested case-control design and incidence density sampling.

Required Reading:

  1. S & N: Ch. 3, except sections 3.2.2 and 3.4.2 (i.e., skip text on attributable risk); Appendix A4

Optional Reading:

  1. Chapter 12: Simple Analyses
  2. Rundle AG, Vineis P, and Ahsan H. Design options for molecular epidemiology research within cohort studies. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005 Aug;14(8):1899-907. Review. PMID: 16103435

Note/Slide Files: Disease Association II 2009.ppt (620 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 5 Disease Association II 2009.doc (81 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Oct. 27

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 5 Disease Association II Answer Key 2009.doc (125 KB)

A SchwartzCB 6702
Tues 10/20/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 10/20/2009
3:15 PM-4:15 PM		Other

Journal Club

Application of concepts learned in the course to date in the critical dissection of an article in the applied literature

Required Reading:

  1. Grosso et al. Oral Bisphosphonates and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation and Flutter in Women: A Self-Controlled Case-Series Safety Analysis. PLoS ONE. 4:e4720, 2009

Note/Slide Files: Journal_Club_2_KEY_2009.doc (69 KB)

D RehkopfCB 6702
Tues 10/27/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Selection Bias

Internal vs. external validity; definition and classification of bias; distinguishing bias from random error; spotting and minimizing selection bias in descriptive, cross-sectional, case-control, and longitudinal (e.g., cohorts or trials) studies

Required Reading:

  1. S & N: Ch. 4: p. 109 - 116 and 133 - 139

Optional Reading:

  1. Morimoto LM, White E, Newcomb PA. Selection bias in the assessment of gene-environment interaction in case-control studies. Am J Epidemiol. 2003 Aug 1;158(3):259-63. PMID: 12882948
  2. Hernán MA, Hernández-Díaz S, Robins JM.A structural approach to selection bias. Epidemiology. 2004 Sep;15(5):615-25. PMID: 15308962

Note/Slide Files: Selection_Bias_2009.ppt (1196 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 6 Selection Bias 2009.doc (88 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Nov. 3

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 6 Selection Bias 2009 Answer Key.doc (303 KB)

J MartinCB 6702
Tues 10/27/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 11/3/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Understanding Measurement: Aspects of Reproduciblity and Validity

Distinguishing reproducibility from validity; how reproducibility influences validity; methods of characterizing reproducibility of measurements (within-subject standard deviation, coefficient of variation); methods of assessment of validity in the presence and absence of gold standards

Required Reading:

  1. Bland and Altman. Measurement error. BMJ 1996; 313: 744
  2. Bland and Altman. Measurement error and correlation coefficients. BMJ 1996; 313: 41-42
  3. Bland and Altman. Measurement error proportional to the mean. BMJ 1996; 313:106
  4. Excerpt on Validity, p. 29-37 in Measuring Health: A Guide to Rating Scales and Questionnaires by McDowell and Newell, 1996.
  5. Bland and Altman. Applying the right statistics. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2003; 22: 85-93.
  6. Bland and Altman. Statistical methods for assessing agreement btwn two methods of clinical measurement. The Lancet 1986; 307-310
  7. Portions of Chapter 8 in S & N. Focus on p. 297 - 299, 303 - 313, and 333 - 343

Note/Slide Files: Measurement_Reproducibility_Validity_2009.ppt (819 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 7 Understanding Measurement 2009.xls (49 KB) Some_tips_for_working_with_MS_Excel.doc (34 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Nov. 10

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 7 Understanding Measurement 2009 Answer Key.xls (86 KB)

J MartinCB 6702
Tues 11/3/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 11/3/2009
3:15 PM-4:15 PM		Other

Journal Club

Application of concepts learned in the course to date in the critical dissection of an article in the applied literature

Required Reading:

  1. Lane et al. Wnt signaling antagonists are potential prognostic biomarkers for the progression of radiographic hip osteoarthritis in elderly caucasian women. Arthritis and Rheumatism. 56:3319–3325, 2007.

Note/Slide Files: EPI203_JC_KEY_RHOA_11032009.doc (77 KB)

A SchwartzCB 6702
Tues 11/10/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Measurement Bias

Concept of differential vs non-differential misclassification; influence (magnitude and direction of bias) of differential vs. non-differential misclassification of exposure, outcome, and confounding variables

Required Reading:

  1. S & N: Ch. 4: p. 116 - 133

Optional Reading:

  1. Shahar, E. Causal diagrams for encoding and evaluation of information bias.

Note/Slide Files: Measurement_Bias_2009.ppt (2777 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 8 Measurement Bias 2009.doc (1421 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Nov. 17

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 8 Measurement Bias 2009 Answer Key.doc (1447 KB)

D RehkopfCB 6702
Tues 11/10/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 11/17/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Confounding and Interaction I: General Principles

Definition and manifestations of confounding; requirements for confounding variables; use of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) to demonstrate confounding; extraneous pathways; importance of defining the research question and the biological system to prevent confounding

Required Reading:

  1. S & N: Ch. 5 and Ch. 1: p. 33 - 39 (section on Matching)
  2. Statistics for Epidemiology

Optional Reading:

  1. Hernan Causal knowledge AJE 156:176-184, 2002.
  2. Cole Hernan Fallibility in estimating direct effects IJE 31:163-165, 2002

Note/Slide Files: Confounding_I_2009.ppt (2169 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 9 Confounding and Interaction I 2009.doc (76 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Nov. 24

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 9 Confounding and Interaction I 2009 Answer Key.doc (180 KB)

J MartinCB 6702
Tues 11/17/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 11/24/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Confounding and Interaction II: Assessment of Interaction

Strategies to minimize confounding; distinguishing interaction from confounding; assessing for interaction; tests of homogeneity; computer implementation

Required Reading:

  1. S & N: Ch. 6: p. 183 – 194 and p. 203 - 219

Note/Slide Files: Confounding_and_Interaction_II_2009.ppt (765 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 10 Confounding and Interaction II 2009.doc (111 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Dec. 1

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 10 Confounding and Interaction II 2009 Answer Key.doc (143 KB)

J MartinCB 6702
Tues 11/24/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 12/1/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Lecture

Confounding and Interaction III: Stratified Analysis

Concept of weighted averages; use of stratification to form adjusted measures; interpreting presence or absence of confounding via stratified analyses; limitations of stratification

Required Reading:

  1. S & N: Ch. 7: p. 227 – 232 and p. 239 - 245

Note/Slide Files: Confounding_and_Interaction_III_2009.ppt (6441 KB)

Assignment Files: Problem Set 11 Confounding and Interaction III 2009.doc (49 KB)

Assignment Due Date: Dec. 8

Assignment Answer Files: Problem Set 11 Confounding and Interaction III 2009 Answer Key.doc (204 KB)

Dataset Files: esophageal_cancer.dta (33 KB)

J MartinCB 6702
Tues 12/1/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759
Tues 12/1/2009
3:15 PM-4:15 PM		Other

Journal Club

Application of concepts learned in the course to date in the critical dissection of an article in the applied literature

Required Reading:

  1. Nitz et al. Association of prostaglandin E synthase 2 (PTGES2) Arg298His polymorphism with type 2 diabetes in two German study populations. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 92:3183–3188, 2007.
E JorgensonCB 6702
Tues 12/8/2009
8:45 AM-10:15 AM		Other

Journal Club

Application of concepts learned in the course in the critical dissection of an article in the applied literature

Required Reading:

  1. Madsen et al., A population-based study of measels, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism. NEJM 2002; 347: 1477-1482

Assignment:
Assignment: Final Exam
Assignment Due Date: 12/15/09 by 4 pm, e-mailed or delivered to Olivia De Leon.

Final Exam Files: brcarctv6.dta (4 KB) Epi Methods Final 2009.doc (232 KB) Yaggi et al NEJM 2005.pdf (166 KB)

J MartinCB 6702
Tues 12/8/2009
1:30 PM-3:00 PM		Section

Review of prior lecture and problem set

A Cattamanchi
R Farzaneh-Far
A Fiocco
E Tam		CB 6702
CB 5721
CB 6601
CB 5759