Epidemiology is the science that informs public health for people all over the world. It is key for governments designing evidence-based legislation to protect their populations against disease, natural disaster, or lifestyle choice. In this module we introduce members of the SickleInAfrica consortium to key concepts and methodologies currently used in epidemiology. We take a modern viewpoint that big data methods are now central to epidemiology, especially for large multi-site research projects. This introductory module will prepare consortium members for later modules on programming, study design, ethics, big data management, and more. Here we will cover basic epidemiology definitions, calculations of simple metrics, and introduce the students to the literature by guiding their critical appraisals of academic articles that describe recent and relevant research studies.
By the end of this module you will be able to:
- recall definitions of basic terms used in epidemiology;
- recall the most common study designs used by epidemiologists today;
- discuss appropriate study designs given a research question;
- discuss important practices for data collection, management, and storage, in epidemiology studies;
- apply the correct formulas to calculate basic epidemiology measures from a given data set;
- apply an appropriate checklist to critically appraise a recent epidemiology study article.
This is an introductory core module for the course Big Data Epidemiology.
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Prerequisites
To complete this module you need a familiarity with Sickle Cell Disease. In addition, please read the following short articles in preparation for the module lessons:
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the financial support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health who funds SickleInAfrica. The views and content expressed on this website do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of our funders.
The content of this module was initially developed by the SADaCC team for SickleInAfrica.
We extend our gratitude to the Software Carpentry project who built the website template used by this module.