POPM*3240 - Epidemiology
Course Description
The course examines the basic concepts of health and disease in populations. Methods used in descriptive and analytic epidemiological studies, including the design, analysis and interpretation of results for observational studies and field trials are presented.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, the learner should be able to:
- Describe the application of epidemiology to disease control, outbreak investigation, health research, and current public health, animal health, and One Health issues;
- Identify, define, calculate, and interpret common measures of association (risk difference, attributable risk exposed, population attributable risk, relative risk, odds ratios) and measures of disease frequency (prevalence, risks, rates) used in epidemiological research, and cite their strengths and limitations;
- Describe how to select appropriately sized samples from populations for surveys and observational studies;
- Discuss disease causation, statistical associations, and causal inference, and rank common study designs by their ability to establish causality;
- Discuss the use of screening tests, identify the criteria used to evaluate tests, and explain epidemiological sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and agreement, including methods for calculating these measures;
- Discuss the design, methodology, and strengths and limitations of each of the common observational and experimental study types in epidemiology;
- Identify and discuss the potential effects of common biases observed in epidemiological research, including various selection biases, misclassification, and confounding; and
- Explain the concepts of incubation and latent periods; state transition models, effective, and basic reproductive numbers; and give examples of strategies to reduce the latter for disease control.
Course Topics
- Foundations in Health & Disease Transmission
- Bias & Causation
- Screening & Diagnostic Testing
- Measures of Association & Disease Frequency
- Sampling
- Observational Study Design
- Intervention Studies
- Surveillance & Outbreak Investigations
- Interdisciplinary Approaches to Epidemiology
Additional Requirements
Prerequisite(s): (BIOL*1080 or BIOL*1090), STAT*2040, STAT*2230
Restrictions: This is a Priority Access Course. Some restrictions may apply during some time periods. Please see the Department of Population Medicine website for more information.
Assessment
| Assessment Item | Weight |
|---|---|
| Quizzes (10 x 2%) | 20% |
| Headline Assignment | 15% |
| Group Project Assignment | 30% |
| Online Final Exam | 35% |
| Total | 100% |
Note:
Additional Technical Requirements
This course will use the following:
- Respondus tool to invigilate one or more exams.
Please view the Technical Considerations for each.
Technical Requirements
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*Course details are subject to change.