Biostatistics in Epidemiologic Research II
Learning objectives
The course is a continuation of the corresponding course of the 1st semester and has the practical approach of “hands-on” practice with the aim to gain experience in the use of the Stata statistical software for biomedical data analysis.
Upon successful completion of the course the post-graduate students are expected to be able to:
- comprehend the rationale of analytical statistical methods
- select the appropriate statistical methodology to address specific research questions
- use the Stata statistical software for data entry, management and analysis of data as well as for interpretation of the results.
Course content
The course covers a brief introduction and/or emphasizes on specific methods of statistical analysis. The following topics are covered:
- Survival analysis (survival tables, Kaplan-Meier curves, Cox proportional hazards model)
- Conditional logistic regression
- Poisson regression
- Diagnostic tests and Bayes’ theorem
- Special topics such as missing values and data reduction techniques.
All topics are accompanied by the corresponding workshops applying data analysis using the Stata statistical software.
The course also covers an introduction to specific topics related to the role of statistics in Clinical Trials (e.g., randomization and interim analyses).
Finally, a project is assigned to students (either in groups or individually) involving data analysis using a statistical software as well as interpretation of the findings. The teaching methods include lectures combined with several practical examples.