With the many advances in the control of infectious disease over the last 100 years, the role of epidemiology in public health has transformed significantly. Epidemiologic research now includes the study of acute and chronic diseases, as well as the events, behaviors, and conditions associated with health. From seasoned author Ray Merrill, this text explores how epidemiologic methods are conducted and interpreted. In four sections, Statistical Methods in Epidemiologic Research covers basic concepts in epidemiology and statistics, study designs, statistical techniques and applications, as well as special topics. Key Features: • Includes sections on how specific epidemiologic methods have resulted in findings that have influenced health policy and public health • Offers optional sections involving more advanced methods • At the end of each chapter, an applications section gives the student a clear picture of how epidemiologic methods are applied in real-world situations • Special emphasis is given to interpreting results • SAS code is presented in an appendix that corresponds to assessing selected methods.

Public health faces critical challenges ranging from outbreaks of new and old pathogens to the threat of bioterrorism and the impact of lifestyle and environmental changes on health. Modern tools of health surveillance and sound statistical practices are essential for meeting these challenges and providing accurate warnings about real public health threats without wasting resources on false alarms. Advances in statistical techniques, computing power and the Internet have led to many new approaches to monitoring population health, analyzing the data, and rapidly sharing it. This text explores the critical issues in the statistical analysis and interpretation of public health surveillance data. It covers statistical methods for detecting disease outbreaks and clusters, the use of survey methods, interpreting time trends and geographic patterns, exploratory statistical analysis of surveillance data, and web-based health reporting systems for the rapid detection of public health problems, among other topics. The methodological approaches are illustrated in discussions of several current public health issues, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic, anthrax, health effects of particulate air pollution, and trends in prostate cancer. The methods are broadly applicable to surveillance systems and registries for numerous health conditions, e.g. infectious diseases, chronic diseases, adverse drug reactions. The book provides numerous illustrations, worked examples, and practical information for actually implementing the methods. It will serve as a reference for public health practitioners and as a textbook for courses on disease surveillance taken by students of statistics biostatistics, epidemiology or public health.

Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the SIAM Institute for Mathematics and Society, and supported by the Department of Energy. Brings together recent developments in the statistical methodology for chronic disease epidimiology. The contributors are all at the forefront of biostatistics research.

In 1974, the Societal Institute of the Mathematical Sciences (SIMS) initiated a series of five-day Research Application Conferences (RAC's) at Alta, Utah, for the purpose of probing in depth societal fields in light of their receptivity to mathematical and statistical analysis. The first eleven conferences addressed ecosystems, epidemiology, energy, environmental health, time series and ecological processes, energy and health, energy conversion and fluid mechanics, environmental epidemiology: risk assessment, atomic bomb survival data: utilization and analysis, modem statistical methods in chronic disease epidemiology and scientific issues in quantitative cancer risk assess ment. These Proceedings are a result of the twelfth conference on Statistical Methodology for Study of the AIDS Epidemic which was held in 1991 at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, California. For five days, 45 speakers and observers contributed their expertise in the relevant biology and statistics. The presentations were timely and the discussion was both enlightening and at times spirited. Members of the Program Committee for the Conference were Klaus Dietz (University of Tiibingen, Germany), Vernon T. Farewell (University of Waterloo, Ontario), and Nicholas P. Jewell (University of California, Berke ley) (Chair). The Conference was supported by a grant to SIMS from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. D. L. Thomsen, Jr.