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Résumé :
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This book gives an overview of the concepts that form the underpinnings of epidemiology and epidemiologic research. The aim is to create a coherent fabric of epidemiologic thinking for the reader. The emphasis is not on statistics, formulas, or computation, but on the underlying epidemiologic principles and concepts. This core content is supplemented with historical notes, a discussion of scientific inference, details about infectious disease epidemiology, and some advanced topics that serve as an on-ramp into further study for those who elect to pursue it. The overall organization is to begin with basic concepts such as causation and inference, progress to a presentation of epidemiologic measures of disease occurrence such as risk and incidence, and then measures that compare occurrence between groups of people that have had different exposures. From there, basic study designs are explained, and the ways to identify and control for errors in these studies are emphasized. The later chapters deal with analysis of epidemiologic data using methods intended to measure effects in a way that addresses meaningful questions and reduces sources of error. Little or no background is required of the reader. Basic concepts such as the definition of a cause and the process by which causal theories are evaluated are not assumed, but elaborated with straightforward examples. Each chapter contains a list of questions that serve as a basis for discussion of key concepts.(editor's website)
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