Preface, vi

List of contributors, viii

Part 1 Epidemiology

1 Epidemiology: defining disease and normality, 3
Sara T. Brookes and Yoav Ben-Shlomo

2 Measuring and summarising data, 11
Sara T. Brookes and Yoav Ben-Shlomo

3 Epidemiological concepts, 20
Sara T. Brookes and Yoav Ben-Shlomo

4 Statistical inference, confidence intervals and P-values, 26
Kate Tilling, Sara T. Brookes and Jonathan A.C. Sterne

5 Observational studies, 36
Mona Jeffreys and Yoav Ben-Shlomo

6 Genetic epidemiology, 46
David M. Evans and Ian N.M. Day

7 Investigating causes of disease, 55
Debbie A. Lawlor and John Macleod

Self-assessment questions - Part 1: Epidemiology, 63

Part 2 Evidence-based Medicine

8 An overview of evidence-based medicine, 69
Yoav Ben-Shlomo andMatthew Hickman

9 Diagnosis, 74
Penny Whiting and Richard M.Martin

10 Prognosis, 84
Yoav Ben-Shlomo andMatthew Hickman

11 Effectiveness, 92
Sara T. Brookes and Jenny Donovan

12 Systematic reviews and meta-analysis, 102
Penny Whiting and Jonathan Sterne

13 Health economics, 112
William Hollingworth and Sian Noble

14 Audit, research ethics and research governance, 120
Joanne Simon and Yoav Ben-Shlomo

Self-assessment questions - Part 2: Evidence-based medicine, 128

Part 3 Public Health

15 Public health, 135
Matthew Hickman, Ruth Kipping and David Gunnell

16 Screening, 145
Angela E. Raffle

17 Infectious disease epidemiology and surveillance, 152
Caroline Trotter, Isabel Oliver and Matthew Hickman

18 Inequalities in health, 160
Bruna Galobardes,Mona Jeffreys, and George Davey Smith

19 Health improvement, 170
Bruce Bolam

20 Evaluating public health and complex interventions, 177
Yoav Ben-Shlomo and Rona Campbell

21 Health care targets, 184
Maya Gobin and Gabriel Scally

22 Global health, 191
Sanjay Kinra, David L. Heymann and Shah Ebrahim

Self-assessment questions - Part 3: Public health, 202

Glossary of terms, 205

Self-assessment answers - Part 1: Epidemiology, 221

Self-assessment answers - Part 2: Evidencebased medicine, 224

Self-assessment answers - Part 3: Public health, 228

Index, 233