Attendance and successful examination in:

i. Medical and Computational Statistics

Lectures (face to face)

MANDATORY ATTENDANCES -LECTURES: NO

Power point

Learning process support through e-class electronic platform.

Use of ICT (e mail) in communication with them students.

Language of assessment: English

Assessment methods: Multiple choice test (60%) and written assignment (40%).

The evaluation of the course and the teachers is carried out -at the end of the semester- through the completion of a special questionnaire by the students. Students are encouraged to express their views through the questionnaire both about the educational process of this course, and about any changes that are necessary in their opinion. Students’ responses are taken into account in order to make improvements.

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the principles of research and epidemiology, and to qualify them with skills to design, analyze and interpret epidemiological data in the fields of disease prevention, diagnosis / prognosis and treatment. Furthermore, the course aims to provide students with the basic elements for study design of human diseases and outbreaks.

Upon successful completion of the course the student will be able to:

• Appreciate the importance of epidemiology as a tool for producing evidence on the prevention, control and treatment of diseases, as well as the importance of the collective and comparative theory as the main advantage of the epidemiological research over case-based clinical research.
• Demonstrate knowledge on the applications of epidemiology, the basic epidemiological indicators (prevalence, point prevalence and time period prevalence, incidence, cumulative incidence and incidence rate, mortality, mortality, infestation rate), the main sources of epidemiological categorical data, studies (descriptive: contemporary studies, ecological and analytical: patient controls, retrospective series, prospective series, clinical trial) and outcome measures (probability ratio, relative risk, attributed risk) of sampling methods, basic knowledge of medical statistics and principles of collection, recording, analysis and presentation of data.
• Familiarize with the basic principles of epidemiological surveillance for infectious diseases as well as the basic principles of investigating and dealing with an epidemic. In addition, the student will be familiar with the concept of causality as well as the concept of systematic error and confusing factor. Finally, the student will be aware of the basic principles of providing critique of the study design and quantitative methods used in published literature as well as the systematic review and meta-analysis.
• Distinguish the main categories of epidemiological research and classify a given research into one of the above-mentioned categories.
• Uses the acquired knowledge in order to: a. formulate research questions, plan and carry out an epidemiological study, b. use the basic epidemiological indicators, c. present its results and use simple statistical analysis techniques, d. investigate an outbreak, e. critically appraise a published work and make a comprehensive assessment of its results and its overall quality, g. search medical literature through online databases.
• Critically analyze a published work with emphasis on its design, sampling method, determination of exposure and outcome, statistical analysis of data, presentation of results, control of confounding factors and the presence of systematic errors as well as the evaluation of its conclusions regarding the balanced wording of the research findings.
• Collaborate with his/her fellow students to search for medical literature but also to critically evaluate published research work, as well as – in the context of laboratory exercises – in the application of epidemiological indicators and in the scenario of investigation and response to an epidemic

General Abilities

• Research, analysis and synthesis of data and information, using the necessary technologies
• Adaptation to new situations
• Decision making
• Autonomous work
• Teamwork
• Exercise criticism and self-criticism
• Promoting free, creative and inductive thinking

1. THEORY

Introduction to Epidemiology

Epidemiological indicators. Impact, prevalence, mortality, mortality, infection rate, ratio, proportion. Point prevalence, Communicative incidence.

Sources of epidemiological data. By gender and age structure of the population. General and specific mortality rates. Fertility.

Design of a descriptive epidemiological study. Instructions for creating a Questionnaire, Ecological studies, Weighting and reliability of a questionnaire.

Population sample selection, Sampling methods.

Collection, registration and analysis of epidemiological data.

Epidemiological surveillance of infectious diseases. Endemic, epidemic, pandemic. Investigation and treatment of outbreaks.

Epidemiological and Statistical programs

Epidemiological Program EPI – INFO 2000, OSWEGO exercise

Analytical Epidemiology: 1. Studies of patients and witnesses. Selection of the comparison group (reference group). Simulation techniques (matching). Systematic errors (bias).

Analytical Epidemiology: 2. Study studies. Prospective cohort study.

 Retrospective cohort study. Systematic errors (bias).

Systematic review – Analysis

Analytical Epidemiology – Clinical trials

Confounders, Causality

Review of published articles, Sources of medical information, Use of Medline

2. EXERCISES

«Introduction to Epidemiology Exercises / Causes Exercises in Diseases»

“Rates and ratio exercises”

“Demographic calculation exercise – Demography”

“Design and organization of a contemporary epidemiological study, questionnaire”

“Sampling using Epi info”.

Exercise for organizing epidemiological data. Presentation of results.

“Exercise of epidemiological surveillance”. “Investigation and treatment of exacerbations of gastroenteritis at a wedding reception”.

“Smoking and lung cancer. Patient and Martyr Study and Retrospective Series »

“Checking the effectiveness and safety of Ephedra”

“Hepatitis A, alcohol and oyster consumption”

“Article Criticism in English and Greek, Study Classification Exercises”

– Proposed Bibliography:

  General and clinical epidemiology. D. Trichopoulos

  Epidemiology, A. Aschengrau