We are planning a rewrite of the WHO "Basic Epidemiology" textbook. (http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/43541/1/9241547073_eng.pdf).
Do you use it?
If not, why not?
And if so, what would you like to see
- improved
- updated
- thrown out
- included?
Hi Ronán. I was not aware of that book. I am a bit surprised that a Ctrl-F search for comes up empty. I suggest adding some material on likelihood ratios and the steps involved in getting from pre-test probability to post-test probability. That would certainly make it much more helpful to medical students. (I also think it is helpful, in such a section, to use a couple different pre-test probabilities rather than using just the prevalence estimate from the current sample.)
Cheers,
Bruce
Re likelihood ratios (LRs), I also like to include at least one example for a test with more than 2 outcomes. If students only ever see LRs for tests with 2 outcomes, they can fall into thinking that LR+ and LR- are the only possibilities. But of course, one can compute a LR for every possible test outcome. And when there are only two outcomes, we call them LR+ and LR-.
In some slides I use the six-item screener example from the JAMA Users' Guides to the Medical Literature (Ch 16 in 2nd Edition, Ch 18 in 3rd Ed.) There are 7 possible test outcomes, so 7 LRs. And none of them are called LR+ or LR-.
A good idea to update/rewrite!
Do you use it?
I do not use it since it was published in 2006. I require a more-recently published Epi textbook for my Fundamentals of Epi course. However, a few examples from different countries are good (Thank you for reminding me of this resource). I do think it is time for a new edition!
I would like to see
- improved: on causation. I realize it is a basic textbook but some contemporary methods in causal inference such as causal DAG should be mentioned briefly.
- updated: recent developments in epi (chapter 1) should be updated. Although genetic and molecular epi (subspecialty fields) are mentioned in Ch 1, I think it deserves a chapter by itself (like occupational and environmental epidemiology chapter).
- thrown out – none. I wonder if chapter 2 could be organized better with measures of disease / health frequency separately with common data sources and their strengths/limitations (e.g., death certificate).
- included? : I think confounding chapter can include effect modifiers and mediators so that readers can differentiate them and know that not all “3rd variables” are confounders and there are other types.
I also think that a basic epi textbook should include outbreak and cluster investigations (at least an outbreak investigation).
If you do revise the chapter on confounding as suggested by Wayway Hlaing, I suggest also reminding readers that "[m]ediation and confounding are identical statistically and can be distinguished only on conceptual grounds." In other words, obtaining a statistically significant indirect effect in mediation analysis does not prove that the 3rd variable is a mediator--it could be a confounder (or a Type I error may have occurred).
Source: MacKinnon, D. P., Krull, J. L., & Lockwood, C. M. (2000). Equivalence of the mediation, confounding and suppression effect. Prevention science, 1(4), 173-181.
Article MacKinnon DP, Krull JL, Lockwood CM. Equivalence of the medi...
Article MacKinnon DP, Krull JL, Lockwood CM. Equivalence of the medi...
I agree with Bruce. I think the authors will have a bit of a tough time considering where to draw the line for basic versus intermediate/advanced
epi concepts.
Bear in mind that this textbook is for undergraduates, and that the epidemiology in it (and therefore the stats) is aimed at what an student should know upon graduation.
It may seem basic, but it's been a big success – it's the WHO's most widely-downloaded book, and translated into many languages.
So our task is to update a winning formula.
for each diseae and each area there is a special epidemiology. the WHO books cant cover them all, So I prefer to use the epidemiological studies of the area you work at.
regards
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