Applied Epidemiology: Theory to Practice (Monographs in Epidemiology & Biostatistics)

Applied Epidemiology: Theory to Practice (Monographs in Epidemiology & Biostatistics) eBook: Ross C. Brownson, Diana B. Petitti: leondumoulin.nl: Kindle Store.
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• Applied Epidemiology: Theory to Practice
• Applied Epidemiology: Theory to practice - Oxford Scholarship
• Applied Epidemiology
• Theory to Practice
• Ross C. Brownson and Diana B. Petitti

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Return to Book Page. Preview — Applied Epidemiology by Ross C. Theory to Practice by Ross C. Theory to Practice 4. This text focuses on areas of public health practice in which the systematic application of epidemiologic methods can have a large and positive impact.

It describes how best to apply traditional epidemiologic methods for determining disease etiology to "real-life" problems in public health and health services research. Brownson and Petitti's much-needed book bridges the ga This text focuses on areas of public health practice in which the systematic application of epidemiologic methods can have a large and positive impact. Brownson and Petitti's much-needed book bridges the gap between theoretical epidemiology and public health practice, and covers a number of topics not addressed by other epidemiology texts with a focus on methods. This second edition contains a new chapter on the development and use of systematic reviews and one on epidemiology and the law.

Each chapter includes one or more case studies intended to illustrate major points from the chapter and to provide a basis for teaching exercises. All of the chapters are authored by leading experts in the fields of epidemiology and public health, and all are fully revised and updated. The book is intended for practitioners in epidemiology as well as for students in epidemiology and related disciplines that rely on epidemiologic methods and reasoning.

It is a practical and informative book for use in academic institutions, federal agencies which have significant educational missions, state and local public health agencies, and health care organizations. By providing a resource of immense accessibility to several key audiences, this edition of Applied Epidemiology: Theory to Practice further extends the fields ability to make a real difference on behalf of better health for all.

Hardcover , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Applied Epidemiology , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Most texts do not explicitly show how. The evolution of epidemiologic methods and concepts has been driven by the search of causes of human diseases. It is likely that this will remain the driving force of epidemiologists and of epidemiology p [ 41 ].

Public health has always been critically dependent on aetiologic research and the contributions made by epidemiology. It is not our intention here to suggest that the priority epidemiologists tend to place in the scientific programme and the hierarchy of methods is in any way misguided or misplaced.

It does not aim to make any broad statements about the utility of epidemiology to public health action. Epidemiology has growing impact in policy through the increasing evidence based policy making, systematic reviews, and the increasingly influential analysis of the social determinants of health and disease. Rather our purpose is to highlight how aspirations to extend their scope to provide methods to assess public health problems and priorities have resulted in incomplete coverage of the methodological needs of public health. Rarely has this aspiration led to serious engagements with some of the difficult conceptual and methodological issues involved, for example in the comparison of health levels or in the ranking of health problems for prioritisation.

Epidemiological textbooks certainly do not have to extend to this task but it is noteworthy that so few do.

Even when their stated purpose is to apply epidemiology to the assessment of public health problems and priorities, most of these authors typically fail to acknowledge that such a purpose entails methods to help rank the social importance of disease occurrences. Mention may be made of alternative time-based measures of disease occurrence but these explorations typically stop short of full descriptions of the methodologies. What this paper does show is that textbooks that aim to provide a basic comprehension of epidemiology, even applied epidemiology, neglect a crucially important aspect of what constitutes public health.

The growing importance of descriptive exercises like the global burden of disease is evidenced by its influence in global health policy and planning and leaves little doubt that measurement tools like the DALY have a significant place in public health research. The absence of this area of research from the reviewed textbooks, however, suggests that epidemiologists do not see it as central to their task.

Epidemiology is of course not the only science to inform public health action. Health economics, in particular, plays a very influential role in comparing the importance of population health problems and the effectiveness of interventions. The QALY is largely an economic measure and is today the most common metric used in health evaluations. Economic methods, however, may not provide a fully satisfactory analysis of population health needs because of the way in which economic theory is based in individual preferences and in subjective concepts of health.

Epidemiologists and public health specialists should be encouraged to not simply borrow methods from other disciplines but to develop new methods that encompass the appropriate public health perspectives. An important limitation in this analysis should be noted. We have not here accounted for the year of publication.

Measures of health and morbidity, and composite measures like the QALY and DALY have been in development over the last few decades and one would expect that their use would increase with time. We have also limited this review to general epidemiology texts. Today there are numerous fields and subfields which inform public health decisions and epidemiological methods alike.

But what it does expose are the methods and theories that have come to be widely accepted within the field [ 42 ]. Authors of epidemiology textbooks should afford more attention to the neglected areas of measuring disease burden and the development of morbidity metrics and tools for the prioritisation of population health problems. Disability-adjusted life year; HALE: Health adjusted life years; NCD: Quality-adjusted life year; YPLL: Years of potential life lost.

HG conducted the review and drafted the manuscript, JP conceived of the idea and helped draft and edit the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript. This study was supported by a Medical Research Council PhD studentship provided to the corresponding author between the years and National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Published online Feb Received May 30; Accepted Feb 5. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http: This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Study Design Narrative literature review. Methods Thirty textbooks were grouped into three categories; pure, extended or applied epidemiology, were reviewed with attention to the ways the discipline is characterised and the nature of the analytical methods described. Results Pure texts tend to present a strict hierarchy of methods with those metrics deemed to best serve aetiological inquiry at the top. Public health, Epidemiological methods, Population health metrics. Background The relationship between epidemiology and public health has long been a close one. In his review of epidemiological textbooks published in , Raj Bhopal noted that these introductory books left readers with no clear tools to approach public health problems with: Methods Selection of textbooks The textbooks selected in the study either focus on epidemiologic methods or present chapters on epidemiologic methods in the context of public health applications.

Textbooks were then reviewed with particular attention to the extent that books discussed a range of topics and methods relevant to the public health function of assessing the burden of health problems and prioritization of public health activities, including: For this purpose four criteria were sought: Open in a separate window. Table 2 Definitions of epidemiology employed by all selected standard epidemiology textbooks.

Medical and public health disciplines use epidemiologic study results to solve and control human health problems p xv Broad And The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems p 3 Koepsell, TD and Weiss, NS [ 12 ] In broad terms, epidemiologic research involves describing and interpreting patterns of disease occurrence in populations, in order to generate knowledge that can be used to prevent disease and avoid human suffering p 17 Broad Hennekens, CH and Buring, JE [ 16 ] The study of the distribution and determinants of disease frequency quoting MacMahon [ 17 ] Narrow Lilienfeld, DE and Stolley, PD [ 13 ] …epidemiology can be regarded as a sequence of reasoning concerned with biological inferences derived from observations of disease occurrence and related phenomena in human population groups.

This definition encompasses the intended contribution of descriptive epidemiology to etiologic research, as well as emphasising that data known only at a group level are the basis of the discipline p 2 Narrow Farmer, R and Lawrenson, R [ 23 ] Modern methods of epidemiological enquiry were first developed in the course of investigating outbreaks of infectious diseases in the 19 th century. In contemporary medical practice the scope and applications of epidemiology have been greatly extended. Similar methods are now used in the development and assessment of preventive programmes and treatments, the assessment of the safety of medicines and in the planning and evaluation of health services.

In contrast to clinical medicine, epidemiology involves the study of groups of people populations rather than direct study of individuals p 3 Broad Friis, RH and Sellers, TA [ 24 ] Epidemiology is concerned with the distribution and determinants of health and diseases, morbidity, injuries, disability, and mortality in populations. Epidemiologic studies are applied to the control of health problems in populations. The key aspects of this definition are determinants, distribution, population and health phenomena eg morbidity and mortality p 6 Broad Gordis, L [ 25 ] The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations and the application of this study to control of health problems quoting Last p 3 Broad Moon, G et al.

It is about the health experiences of human communities p 2 Narrow Rossignol, A [ 27 ] Epidemiology is the foundational science of public health.

Theory to Practice

Much as a yardstick measures length, epidemiologic investigations measure and compare the frequencies of disease, injury, and other health-related events in human populations p 3 Narrow Webb, P et al. It forms part of preventive medicine and public health. Epidemiologic methods are also used to assess the effectiveness of new preventive and therapeutic treatments and the impact of different patterns of health care delivery p 3 Brownson RC and Petitti, DB [ 30 ] In our view, applied epidemiology synthesizes and applies the results of etiologic studies to set priorities for intervention; it evaluates public health interventions and policies; it measures the quality and outcome of medical care; and it effectively communicates epidemiologic findings to health professionals and the public.

But policy occurs in society, making population directly relevant, so demography and vital statistics are important topics for health policy. The distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations help to identify potential interventions and priorities to control of health problems p Broad. Table 3 Characteristics of selected standard epidemiology textbooks: Life tables mentioned briefly. Kerr, C et al. BOD - Burden of Disease. DALE — Disability adjusted life expectancy.

DALY — Disability adjusted life year. DFLE — Disability free life expectancy. HALE — Health adjusted life expectancy. PYLL — Potential years of life lost. QALY —Quality adjusted life year. QoL — Quality of life. Discussion The evolution of epidemiologic methods and concepts has been driven by the search of causes of human diseases. Competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: Funding This study was supported by a Medical Research Council PhD studentship provided to the corresponding author between the years and References Kirch W, editor.

Ross C. Brownson and Diana B. Petitti

Encyclopedia of Public Health. Oxford University Press; Reassessing the role of epidemiology in public health. Am J Public Health. Public Health at the Crossroads: Cambridge University Press; Paradigms in epidemiology textbooks; in the footsteps of Thomas Kuhn. Statistics in Public Health: Quantitative Approaches to Public Health Problems. Why choice of metrics matters in public health analyses: Szklo M, Nieto FJ.

Jones and Bartlett Publishers; Koepsell T, Weiss NS. Studying the Occurrence of Illness. Lilienfeld D, Stolley PD. Ahrens W, Pigeot I. An Introduction to Traditional and Modern Epidemiology. MacMahon B, Trichopoulos D. Little, Brown and Company; An Introduction to Epidemiology. Principles of Occurrence Research in Medicine. Statistical methods in cancer research. Descriptive epidemiology, Volume Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine.

Epidemiolgy for Public Health Practice. Jones and Bartlett Publishing; Open University Press; Principles and Practices of Epidemiology: McGraw-Hill Higher Education; Webb P, Bain C. An Introduction for Students and Health Professionals. Vetter N, Mathews I. An Introduction to Public Health and Epidemiology. Oxford Textbook of Public Health. Donaldson L, Scally G. Handbook of Public Health Methods.

Pomperleau J, McKee M, editor. Issues in Public Health. Introduction to Public Health. Epidemiologic Methods for Health Policy. The New Public Health: An introduction for the 21st Century. A Dictionary of Epidemiology. A History of Epidemiologic Methods and Concepts. Evolution of epidemiologic methods and concepts in selected textbooks of the 20th century.

Support Center Support Center. Please review our privacy policy. Ahrens, W, and Pigeot, I [ 14 ]. Gerstman, BB [ 15 ]. MacMahon, B, and Trichopolous, D [ 17 ]. Miettinen, O [ 19 ]. Rothman KJ, et al. Multi-authored 1 co-edited volume. Szklo, M, and Nieto, FJ [ 11 ]. Bonita, R , et al. Bhopal, R [ 21 ]. Esteve, J, et al. Descriptive epidemiology statistical methods in cancer research. Farmer, R and Lawrenson, R [ 23 ]. Epidemiology and public health medicine.

Epidemiology for public health practice. Gordis, L [ 25 ]. Moon, G, et al. Rossignol, A [ 27 ]. Principles and practice of epidemiology: Webb, P and Bain, C [ 28 ]. Vetter, N, and Matthews, I [ 29 ]. Carr, S et al. An introduction to public health and epidemiology.

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Detels, R et al. Oxford textbook of public health: Donaldson, LJ and Scally, G [ 33 ]. Gillam, S et al.