Epidemiology

This resource reviews the current status of cancer epidemiologic research and training — rationale, requisite infrastructure, methodologic principles, and illustrative examples in low- and middle-income countries — in order to facilitate future advances by trained health professionals. It summarizes and reviews research studies that are in progress concerning major prevalent cancers of the breast, uterine cervix, lung and bronchus, upper aerodigestive tract, stomach, liver, colon, and HIV-associated cancers. It also covers specific studies conducted in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the Middle East, as well as studies in Australia, Europe, North America, and in populations that migrate from LMICs to developed countries. The result is a valuable resource for both program leaders as well as graduate and post-graduate students pursuing careers in international cancer epidemiologic research.Less

The CDC Yellow Book offers everything travelers and healthcare providers need to know for safe and healthy travel abroad. This 2020 edition includes: country-specific risk guidelines for yellow fever and malaria, including expert recommendations and 26 detailed, country-level maps; detailed maps showing distribution of travel-related illnesses, including dengue, Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal meningitis, and schistosomiasis; guidelines for self-treating common travel conditions, including altitude illness, jet lag, motion sickness, and travelers’ diarrhea; expert guidance on food and drink precautions to avoid illness, plus water-disinfection techniques for travel to remote destinations; specialized guidelines for non-leisure travelers, study abroad, work-related travel, and travel to mass gatherings; advice on medical tourism, complementary and integrative health approaches, and counterfeit drugs; health insights around 15 popular tourist destinations and itineraries; advising travelers with specific needs, including those with chronic medical conditions or weakened immune systems, health care workers, humanitarian aid workers, long-term travelers and expatriates, and last-minute travellers; considerations for newly arrived adoptees, immigrants, and refugees.Less

This book presents a system of critical appraisal applicable to clinical, epidemiological and public health studies and to many other fields. It assumes no prior knowledge. The methods are relevant to students, practitioners and policymakers. The book shows how to assess if the results of one study or of many studies show a causal effect. The book discusses study designs: randomised and non-randomised trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, and surveys, showing the presentation of results including person-time and survival analysis, and issues in the selection of subjects. The system shows how to describe a study, how to detect and assess selection biases, observation bias, confounding, and chance variation, and how to assess internal validity and external validity (generalisability). Statistical methods are presented assuming no previous knowledge, and showing applications to each study design. Positive features of causation including strength, dose-response, and consistency are discussed. The book shows how to do systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and discusses publication bias. Systems of assessing all evidence are shown, leading to a general method of critical appraisal based on 20 key questions in five groups, which can be applied to any type of study or any topic. Six chapters show the application of this method to randomised trials, prospective and retrospective cohort studies, and case-control studies. An appendix summarises key statistical methods, each with a worked example. Each main chapter has self-test questions, with answers provided.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

This volume provides a practical, hands on guide to the design, planning, conduct, analysis, and interpretation of epidemiological studies. The learning points are applicable to all human studies of health and disease that require the collection and analysis of data to answer questions on disease risk, health outcomes, and the effects of interventions in ‘real world’ populations. It summarizes the main study designs used in epidemiological from purely quantitative studies to assess incidence and prevalence, to the range of observational studies used in the modern practice of epidemiology. A substantial section is devoted to the practical aspects of conduct of epidemiological studies, balancing scientific quality with practicality: the latter covering issues such as costs and ethics. This book also provides a detailed menu of activities that takes the investigator through all the necessary steps following the collection of individual subject data through to generating the statistically robust results necessary to reach conclusions about the questions asked. It provides insights into how to use existing data (secondary data analysis) to answer epidemiological questions, an increasing activity in this era of ‘big data’. Similarly, with a growing epidemiological literature, with multiple studies seemingly addressing the same question, the volume explores how practically to synthesize the results of such multiple investigations and the role of meta-analysis. The book’s ultimate goal is to provide a practical toolkit to enable the successful completion of questions appropriate for applying epidemiological methods.Less

The American healthcare system is increasingly dependent on clinical informatics professionals to ensure that information technology contributes fully to measurably improve patient outcomes, enhance individual and organizational efficiency, and lower overall healthcare costs. Although the United States is the most expensive (per capita) healthcare system in the world, it ranks among the lowest in patient access and health outcomes. In the future, an aging population, complex comorbidities, family financial distress, changing cultural expectations, and unsustainable healthcare prices will necessitate a radically broader view of clinical care. Our technologies need to be optimally employed to promote health and support healthcare in a financially sustainable way. Clinical informatics is tasked with improving health outcomes while reducing costs. To realize these aims, clinical informatics must understand relationships among clinical care, workflows, technology, management, and public policy. This book provides an introduction to critical skills required of effective clinical informatics professionals.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

Infectious disease epidemiology is the application of methods and approaches used to understand the distribution and determinants of health and disease to the study of infections. This handbook provides a comprehensive and succinct overview of the subject and covers related specialist areas needed to understand the epidemiology of infections. The book is divided into two parts. The first section introduces basic concepts in infectious disease epidemiology; how to design studies and investigate outbreaks, statistical analysis, and more specialist subjects such as economic analysis, mathematical modelling, and spatial, molecular, and immuno-epidemiology. The second half of the book describes the epidemiology of infectious diseases of global significance, either due to their current burden or their potential for causing morbidity and mortality. The handbook is organized in such a way that a reader can sequentially read chapters or dip in to revise particular concepts.Less

This online resource provides a concise review of preventive medicine and public health topics that are relevant to any practitioner in preventive medicine, occupational medicine, internal medicine, or aerospace medicine needing a comprehensive review of the topics in preventive medicine and public health. It will also serve as an ideal review before preventive medicine board examinations for candidates taking them for the first time and those taking them for recertification.Less

This comprehensive resource not only summarises the management of common symptoms and disorders but also outlines the increasing evidence base for the efficacy of these techniques. This new edition has been fully revised to appeal to the whole rehabilitation team. Less

Easy-to-use, concise and practical, and reflecting recent advances, this resource presents the most promising developments in practical public health, as well as maintaining essential summaries of core disciplines. Less

The Oxford Textbook of Community Mental Health is the most comprehensive and authoritative review published in this field.

The Oxford Textbook of Infectious Disease Control discusses the issues of geographical spread of human communicable diseases. Split into six chapters it tackles surveillance, quarantine, vaccination, and forecasting for disease control. A wide selection of representative maps and diagrams are used to illustrate the ideas explored. Less

The Oxford Textbook of Zoonoses comprehensively provides a systematic, cross disciplinary approach to the science and control of all zoonoses - diseases naturally transmissible between vertebrate animals and man.Less

The association between mental health and physical health forms the core of this book. While it is recognized that serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia carry a reduced life expectancy, it is often assumed that suicide is the main cause of this disparity. But in actuality, suicide accounts for no more than a third of the early mortality associated with schizophrenia: the vast majority is due to cardiovascular factors. This book seeks to put this stark fact in context, detailing the extent of cardiovascular risk, sharing information regarding reasons for this excess, and outlining approved approaches for screening for and treatment of such risk factors in people with schizophrenia. As such, this book seeks to inform those caring for people with schizophrenia of these parameters and suggests ways in which they may be addressed, using a holistic model which embraces shared decision-making and which is compatible with the recovery framework. It provides guidance regarding monitoring as well as information about focused interventions that can help ameliorate risk. It also addresses those physical health factors apart from cardiovascular, that add to the burden of ill health amongst people with schizophrenia: pulmonary health, bone health, sexual health, and cancer risk are just some of these. In addition, the book provides patient and carer information material that can be used to try to ensure that all involved have a truly informed role in decision-making about their treatment and that both psychiatric and physical health issues are taken seriously.Less

A Practical Guide to Using Qualitative Research with Randomized Controlled Trials focuses on qualitative research, emphasizing subjectivity, flexibility, open data collection, depth, and context, and randomized controlled trials (RCTs), emphasizing objectivity, standardization, measurement, and a key goal of bias reduction. The differences between the two methodologies make their combination an interesting ‘extreme case’ of mixed methods research. The book is about how to use qualitative research when preparing for, undertaking, or implementing the results of an RCT. The focus is on a range of designs, including pilot and pragmatic RCTs. The book focuses on health research because the majority of RCTs are undertaken in this field. It is written for researchers who are undertaking or planning to undertake qualitative research with RCTs. The book may also be useful to researchers leading RCTs and graduate students. It does not explain how to do qualitative research or how to do RCTs. The book focuses on how to undertake qualitative research in the specific context of RCTs. The book is divided into three parts. Part 2 offers the practical guidance promised within the title of the book. Each chapter focuses on key steps when undertaking qualitative research in the context of RCTs: writing a proposal, selecting research questions, collecting data, analysing data, integrating qualitative and quantitative components, and publishing. Part 1 sets the scene for the practical aspects. Part 3 focuses on the human beings we work closely with during research and offers practical advice to ensure these interactions are positive and fruitful.Less

Nontraditional collaborations have produced some of the most sweeping, health-improving results in recent memory. But whether it is public/private, cross-discipline, or interagency, the formula for identifying these partnerships — not to mention making them work — remains very much in progress. This text elucidates what works (and what doesn't) when it comes to collaborating for change in and around health. It brings together voices of experience and authority to answer this topic's most challenging questions and provide guideposts for applying what they've learned to today's thorniest problems. The book aims to answer questions related to identifying sectors and actors that can help to collaborate to improve health; effective practices for initial engagement; specifics related to collaborations with government, business, faith communities, and other types of partners; the role of data in establishing and running a partnership; scaling up to maximize impact and remain sustainable; the role of financing; and implications for policy.Less

This resource provides a general introduction to epidemiological techniques for psychiatric research. As demand grows for evidence based practice in psychiatry, there is increasing use of epidemiological methods for studies into causes, prognosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders, although working in the field of mental health throws up its own particular challenges. This resource explains how to adapt the tried and tested methods used in generic epidemiology to the special circumstances of psychiatric epidemiology.Less

What is going to happen to me, doctor?’ ‘What outcomes am I likely to experience?’ ‘Will this treatment work for me?’ Prognosis—forecasting the future—has always been a part of medical practice and caring for the sick. In modern healthcare it now has a new importance, with large financial investments being made to personalize clinical decisions and tailor treatment strategies to improve individual health outcomes based on prognostic information. Prognosis research—the study of future outcomes in people with a particular health condition—provides the critical evidence for obtaining, evaluating, and implementing prognostic information within modern healthcare. This new book, written and edited by experts in the field, including clinicians, epidemiologists, statisticians, and other healthcare professionals, is a comprehensive and unified account of prognosis research in the broadest sense. It explains the concepts behind prognosis in medical practice and prognosis research, and provides a practical foundation for those developing, conducting, interpreting, synthesizing, and appraising prognosis studies. It recommends a framework of four basic prognosis research types, pioneered by the PROGRESS group, and provides explicit guidance on the conduct, analysis, and reporting of prognosis studies for each type. Key topics are overall prognosis in clinically relevant populations; prognostic factors associated with changes in prognosis across individuals; prognostic models for individual outcome risk prediction; and predictors of treatment effects. Examples are given of the impact of prognosis research across a broad range of healthcare topics, and the book also signals the latest developments in prognosis research, including systematic reviews and meta-analysis of prognosis studies, and the use of electronic health records and machine learning in prognosis research.Less

The Tropical Medicine Notebook provides a concise overview of the key topics in tropical medicine using short notes, diagrams, maps, and tables. The book is divided into eight sections. The first five cover infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, and helminths. The following three present the topics of vector biology, disease syndromes, and envenomation. A final section listing relevant guidelines, publications, and other resources guides the reader to more detailed information when required.Less