Epidemiology II

Study design, measures of disease occurrence, measures of effect, intern validity, Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), interpretation of multivariable models, causal inference, causal interaction and effect measure modification, screening, instrumental variable estimation, family designs, case only designs.

After completing SMED8002:

Knowledge

• The candidate is at the forefront of knowledge regarding various study designs most commonly used in population-based and clinical research (cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, case-control studies, and randomized controlled trials).
• The candidate can assess the appropriateness of different measures of disease occurrence (prevalence, incidence rate, and incidence proportion) and screening.

Skills

• The candidate can handle and interpret various complex measures of the relationship between exposure/treatment and disease based on absolute and relative risk (risk difference, incidence rate difference, numbers needed to treat versus risk ratio, incidence rate ratio, odds ratio, hazard ratio).
• The candidate can distinguish between and understand the concepts of ‘causal relationship’ (causality) and ‘statistical association’.
• The candidate can differentiate between causal interaction and effect measure modification.

General proficiency

• The candidate has in-depth knowledge of common challenges in observational studies (selection bias, information bias, and confounding).
• The candidate has in-depth knowledge of interpreting Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs).
• The candidate has in-depth knowledge of assessing precision in epidemiological studies with an emphasis on the interpretation and use of p-values and confidence intervals.
• The candidate has a thorough understanding of the principles of multivariable analyses and the ability to interpret such analyses.
• The candidate has in-depth knowledge of the principles of instrumental variable analysis, various family designs, and case-only studies.

Teaching modalities: Lectures and problem solving. Participation is mandatory. The course coordinator may approve up to 20% absence from mandatory lectures.