What is epidemiology? What are the causes of a new disease? How can pandemics be prevented? Epidemiology is the study of the changing patterns of disease and its main aim is to improve the health of populations. It's a vital field, central to the health of society, to the identification of causes of disease, and to their management and prevention. Epidemiology has had an impact on many areas of medicine; from discovering the relationship between tobacco smoking and lung cancer, to the origin and spread of new epidemics. However, it is often poorly understood, largely due to misrepresentations in the media. In this Very Short Introduction Rodolfo Saracci dispels some of the myths surrounding the study of epidemiology. He provides a general explanation of the principles behind clinical trials, and explains the nature of basic statistics concerning disease. He also looks at the ethical and political issues related to obtaining and using information concerning patients, and trials involving placebos. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The second edition of this internationally acclaimed title is the ideal handbook for those involved in conducting epidemiological research. The objective of most epidemiological studies is to relate exposure to putative causal agents to the occurrence of a particular disease. The achievement of this objective depends critically on accurate measurement of exposure. This book reviews principles and techniques that can be applied to measuring a wide range of exposures, including demographic, behavioral, medical, genetic, and environmental factors. The book covers questionnaire design, conducting personal interviews, abstracting information from medical records, use of proxy respondents, and measurements from human specimens and in the environment. It gives a comprehensive account of measurement error and the estimation of its effects, and the design, analysis, and interpretation of validity and reliability studies. Emphasis is given to the ways in which the validity of measurements can be increased. Techniques to maximize participation of subjects in epidemiological studies are discussed, and ethical issues relevant to exposure measurement are outlined.

Teaching epidemiology requires skill and knowledge, combined with a clear teaching strategy and good pedagogic skills. The general advice is simple: if you are not an expert on a topic, try to enrich your background knowledge before you start teaching. The new edition of Teaching Epidemiology helps you to do this and, by providing world-expert teachers' advice on how best to structure teaching, providing a unique insight into what has worked in their hands. This book will help you to tailor your own epidemiology teaching programme. The fourth edition of this established text has been fully revised and updated, drawing on new research findings and recently developed methods including research technologies in genetic epidemiology and method development in relation to causal analysis. Analytical tools provide teachers in the field with the skills to guide students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Each chapter in Teaching Epidemiology comprises key concepts in epidemiology, subject specific methodologies, and disease specific issues, to provide expert assistance in the teaching of a wide range of epidemiology courses.

Records 22 papers presented at a meeting concerned with the design of prospective studies to investigate the role of diet and hormones in the etiology of cancer. The objective of the meeting was to identify methodological differences and common elements in both on-going and planned studies in order to facilitate the consolidation of data, communicate practical lessons about the advantages and pitfalls of different methodological approaches, and avoid duplication of efforts. Papers are presented in four main parts. The first describes on-going or planned prospective studies on diet and cancer at centres in the USA, Holland, Italy, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. Papers in the second section, devoted to dietary assessment methods for epidemiological studies, communicate experiences in the use of dietary questionnaires and in methods for attenuating the problem of measurement error in nutritional epidemiology. Methodological problems in the use of biochemical, anthropometric and other measures of diet and nutritional status are considered in the third section. The book concludes with papers describing four prospective studies designed to determine the link between endogenous and exogenous hormones and cancers of the breast and female reproductive organs.