Teaching code

4S000084

Teacher

Simone Accordini

Credits

2

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

MED/01 - MEDICAL STATISTICS

Period

1 SEMESTRE PROFESSIONI SANITARIE dal Oct 1, 2021 al Dec 23, 2021.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

To show the organization of the course that includes this module, follow this link:  Course organization

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide the theoretical and practical tools for assessing the frequency of diseases in human populations and the associated risk factors. The course therefore aims to provide expertise in epidemiology and bio-statistics. At the end of the course, the student must demonstrate to have understood the basic biostatistical methods applied to epidemiology and the elements of an epidemiological study.

Program

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
The collection of biomedical data:
- stages of a scientific study;
- population, sample and statistical units;
- measurement process and measurement scales;
- validity, accuracy and precision of a measuring instrument.
The synthesis of biomedical data:
- univariate frequency distributions (absolute, relative, relative percentage and cumulative frequencies);
- graphical representation of a univariate frequency distribution (pie chart, bar chart, histogram, ogive);
- bivariate frequency distributions (two-way frequency tables);
- measures of central tendency (mode, percentiles and median, simple and weighted arithmetic means);
- measures of dispersion (range, interquartile range, deviance, variance, standard deviation).
PROBABILITY
Elements of probability theory:
- sample space, elementary and compound events, logical operations on events;
- definitions of probability (classical, frequentist);
- axiomatic theory of probabilities;
- rules of probability calculation (addition, product);
- independent and conditional probabilities;
- probability estimates;
- Bernoulli and Gauss distributions.
Validity of a screening test (sensitivity and specificity).
EPIDEMIOLOGY
The objects of epidemiology:
- outcome;
- measures of disease frequency (prevalence, cumulative incidence, incidence rate);
- determinant.
The occurrence relation and measures of association:
- attributable risk;
- relative risk and odds ratio.
Classification of epidemiological studies.
Main designs of an epidemiological study:
- ecological;
- cross-sectional;
- case-control;
- cohort;
- clinical trial.
INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICAL INFERENCE
Point and interval estimation (confidence interval).
The logic of statistical testing (null and alternative hypotheses, test statistic, p-value).

The module is structured in frontal lessons during which the topics listed in the program are presented and discussed, exercises are solved and results of statistical analyses of biomedical data are interpreted. The didactic material (slides of the lessons, exercises with solutions) is made available to the students on the e-learning web page of the course (Moodle platform).

Bibliography

Examination Methods

The final examination is a written test (duration of the test: 2 hours). The written test covers potentially all the topics listed in the program and is structured in groups of questions related to solving exercises and understanding the theory. Items are formulated as short answer questions and multiple-choice questions.
The questions in the written test aim to assess the ability:
- to calculate descriptive statistics, probabilities and epidemiological measures;
- to critically use descriptive statistics and epidemiological measures;
- to choose the most appropriate study design in relation to a given research question in the field of epidemiology;
- to interpret tables and graphs reporting the results of inferential statistical analyses of biomedical data.
Each question is assigned a score. The grade of the test (expressed in thirtieths) is given by the sum of the scores obtained by correctly answering the individual questions. The test is considered passed if the student gains a minimum grade of 18/30.