Epidemiology

Epidemiology is a population science that underpins health improvement and health care, and is concerned with the pattern, frequency, trends, and causes of disease. This book teaches its applications to population health research, policy-making, health service planning, health promotion, and clinical care. The book emphasizes concepts and principles. In 10 chapters, the book explains what epidemiology is; illustrates the basis of epidemiology in populations; provides a framework for analysing diseases by time, place, and person; introduces error, bias, and confounding; explains how we move from association to causation; considers the natural history, spectrum, and iceberg of disease in relation to medical screening; discusses the acquisition and analysis of data on incidence and prevalence of risk factors and diseases; shows the ways in which epidemiological data are presented, including relative and absolute risks; provides an integrated overview of study designs and the principles of data analysis; and considers the theoretical and ethical basis of epidemiology both in the past and the future. The emphasis is on interactive learning, with each chapter including learning objectives, theoretical and numerical exercises, questions and answers, and a summary. The text is illustrated, with detailed material in tables. The book is written in plain English, and the necessary technical and specialized terminology is explained and defined in a glossary. The book is for postgraduate courses in epidemiology, public health, and health policy. It is also suitable for clinicians, undergraduate students in medicine, nursing and other health disciplines, and researchers.Less

Current Topics in Occupational Epidemiology is an in-depth study of contemporary issues and emerging themes in the field. Divided into seven parts it discusses 'new' occupational diseases such as pneumonia in welders, as well as 'older' diseases including morbidity and mortality among miners. Societal trends have encouraged the application of occupational epidemiological methods to new issues such as the ageing workforce, return to work after illness, and the migration of workers. This resource tackles these issues, as well the extension of epidemiology to surveillance systems, systematic reviews, and economic analyses.Less

Essentials of Environmental Epidemiology for Health Protection guides front-line public health practitioners through the decisions they are likely to face when dealing with environmental health problems, and shows how to integrate relevant aspects of environmental science, communication sciences, toxicology, and environmental epidemiology skills to conduct initial investigations.Less

This completely updated edition offers a practical introduction to exposure assessment methodologies in environmental epidemiologic studies. In addition to methods for traditional methods -- questionnaires, biomonitoring -- this new edition is expanded to include geographic information systems, modeling, personal sensoring, remote sensing, and OMICs technologies. In addition, each of these methods is contextualized within a recent epidemiology study, maximizing illustration for students and those new to these to these techniques. With clear writing and extensive illustration, this book will be useful to anyone interested in exposure assessment, regardless of background.Less

This book is based on the content covered during the non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention short course at the University of Oxford. It provides theoretical background and ‘real life case studies’ helping readers to apply the learnings to their day-to-day work. It covers case studies from both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries. This book is structured around the four stages of the policy cycle: (1) problem definition; (2) solution generation; (3) resource mobilization and implementation; and (4) evaluation. Chapters 2–7 focus on problem definition, which involves understanding the burden of NCDs, its risk factors, the sociopolitical landscape, the role of advocacy, and screening and surveillance. Chapters 8–10 are about solution generation, which involves examining the evidence for potential costs and benefits of interventions, while also considering contextual factors, including the ethical and political dimensions of different solutions. Chapters 11–13 are on implementation and the mobilization of resources, both the money needed for material aspects of the interventions and the people required to plan for and carry out the interventions. Chapter 14 is about evaluation and monitoring, which may be designed to assess whether interventions met their aims and objectives. Given the cyclical nature of the policy cycle, the final chapter is about returning to the various stages. NCD prevention does not always follow the stages of the policy cycle in a strict sequence and often, NCD interventions will need revisiting in light of the experiences and lessons learned from earlier stages.Less