Epidemiological Principles and Methods

Epidemiology studies the disease patterns in the population (descriptive epidemiology) and the disease causes (analytical epidemiology). Epidemiology methods are widely used in medical research and in preventive medicine. The field of epidemiology also includes skilled knowledge in disease devolpment and their prevalence in time and place, related to the population.

Lectures include causality, study designs, measurement methods, bias, confounding, and specific research fields within epidemiology. There are also exercises and a take-home exam.

Exercises include critical reviews of scientific articles.

Knowledge

After the course, the students should understand

• basic epidemiological principles and methods
• epidemiological terms
• methods for identifying disease risk factors and preventing diseases in the population

Skills

After completing the course, the students can

• discuss the main types of study design, and their strengths and weaknesses
• understand the methods for disease prevalence, associations, effect modification/interaction and the principles for screening
• Assess potential sources of error and causality in published studies.
• Use the knowledge to independently plan and conduct such studies.

General Competence

Upon completion of the course, the students:

• have the necessary factual knowledge to independently evaluate published studies related to medical causal research.
• can critically review scientific literature and to take part in scientific discussions