Reading material for Course EPIB-609: Seminar for PhD students

[last updated October 23, 2017]

Key resources .
  • Greenland S. (Editor). Evolution of epidemiologic ideas. Annotated readings on concepts and methods. Epidemiology Resources Inc. 1987. Table of Contents   10 of the articles

  • Morabia A. (Editor). A History of Epidemiologic Methods and Concepts. Birkhauser Verlag, Basel.Boston.Berlin. 2004.  
    • About the Book link
    • Part I: Epidemiology: An epistemological perspective. by Morbia himself.   pdf
    • Part II: Collection of papers on the history of epidemiological methods and concepts (papers, by various authors, from Social and Preventive Medicine 2001-2003)   link

  • Morabia A. History of Epidemiologic Ideas, Methods and Concepts.   website
     
  • Some historical names... link       Who are they?   McGill version   LSHTM version
     
.
Topic Items
Lifetables
  • Wikipedia. Life table. link
  • Hoem JM. Life Table. Encyclopedia of Biostatistics (EoB) -- via McGill access.   pdf
  • EoB entries on Graunt pdf   and Halley   pdf
  • Borgan O. Kaplan-Meier Estimator. Encyclopedia of Biostatistics.   pdf
  • Borgan O. Nelson-Aalen Estimator. Encyclopedia of Biostatistics.   pdf
    • Graunt J [1662] Natural and political observations made upon the Bills of Mortality. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.   pdf
    • Halley E. An Estimate of the Degrees of the Mortality of Mankind, Drawn from Curious Tables of the Births and Funerals at the City of Breslaw; With an Attempt to Ascertain the Price of Annuities upon Lives. Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 17 (1693), pp. 596-610   pdf
    • David R. Bellhouse. A new look at Halley's life table
        J.R.Statist. Soc. A (2011) 174, Part 3, pp. 823-832   pdf
    • Gompertz B. On the Nature of the Function Expressive of the Law of Human Mortality, and on a New Mode of Determining Life Contingencies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Of London, (1825) 115:513--583.   pdf
    • Milne
    • Edmonds TR (1832). The discovery of a numerical law regulating the existence of every human being illustrated by a new theory of the causes producing health and longevity. James Duncan, London. pdf
    • Edmonds TR. On the Laws of Collective Vitality. The Lancet, Apr 04, 1835, Vol. 24 No. 605 pp 5-8. pdf
    • Edmonds TR. On the mortality of the people of England. The Lancet, June 06, 1835. Vol. 24 No. 614 pp 310-316 pdf
    • Edmonds TR. On the mortality in each county of England. The Lancet, Volume 25, Issue 640, 5 December 1835, Pages 364-371. pdf
    • Edmonds TR. On the mortality in each county of England. The Lancet, Volume 25, Issue 641, 12 December 1835, Pages 408-416. pdf
    • Farr W. On the Construction of Life-Tables, Illustrated by a New Life-Table of the Healthy Districts of England. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 149 (1859), pp. 837-878.   pdf
    • Greenwood M. Graunt and Petty. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. 91, No. 1 (1928), pp. 79-85.   pdf
    • Greenwood M. The First Life Table. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Oct., 1938), pp. 70-72.   pdf  
    • Greenwood M. Medical Statistics From Graunt to Farr: series of 3 Biometrika articles.   1941     1942     1943
    • Kaplan EL and and Meier P. Nonparametric Estimation from Incomplete Observations. Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 53, No. 282 (Jun., 1958), pp. 457-481   pdf
    • Rothman KJ (1996). Lessons from John Graunt. Lancet 347: 37-39.   pdf
    • Eyler JM. Constructing vital statistics: Thomas Rowe Edmonds and William Farr, 1835 - 1845. Soz Praventiv Med 2002;47(1):6-13.   pdf
    • Other EoB extries: VitalStatistics     Demography
      History of Health Statistics     Survival Analysis - Overview
    • Klein JL . Reckoning on Death and Chance with the Merchant's Rule. Chapter in Statistical Visions in Time: A History of Time Series Analysis 1662- 1938. Cambridge University Press, 1997.   pdf
    • Google: Timeline results for history of life tables.   link
    • Turner EL and Hanley JA. Cultural imagery and statistical models of the force of mortality: Addison, Gompertz and Pearson. J. R. Statist. Soc. A (2010) 173, Part 3, pp. 483-499.   pdf
    • Hanley JA. From incidence function to cumulative-incidence-rate / risk. Target readers: Epidemiology or AJE   1st Draft [comments welcome]
    • R Code (and example) to show "Re-distribute to the Right" Algorith of Efron   R code     Example
Topic Items
Cholera
  • Koch T, Denike K. Rethinking John Snow's South London study: A Bayesian evaluation and recalculation. Social Science & Medicine 63 (2006) 271-283.   pdf
     
    • Farr. W. Report on the mortality of cholera in England, 1848-49. London : Printed by W. Clowes, for H.M.S.O., 1852.
      Material on relation to Elevation begins at page lxi -- diagram is on page lxv. link
    • Snow J. On the mode of communication of cholera. Second Edition, much Enlarged. John Churchill, London. M.DCCC.LV.   pdf
    • Parkes EA. Review of Snow's Mode of Communication of Cholera, British and Foreign Medical Review (April 1855): 449-63.   pdf     Commentary, by Peter Vinten-Johansen, on the review by Parkes. pdf
    • Simon J. Report on the Last Two Cholera-Epidemics of London, as Affected by the Consumption of Impure Water (London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 13 May 1856).
      John Snow Archive and Research Companion     pdf
    • Editorial on Simon's report. The Times, June 25 1856.   pdf
    • Snow's letter to Editor of The Times, June 26 1856   pdf
    • Snow J. Cholera and the water supply in the south districts of London in 1854," Journal of Public Health, and Sanitary Review 2 (October 1856): 239-57.
      John Snow Archive and Research Companion     pdf
       

    • "A. Bradford Hill, "Snow--an appreciation." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 48 (1955): 1008-12. pdf
       
    • Eyler JM. William Farr on the Cholera: The Sanitarian's Disease Theory and the Statistician's Method. Journal of the History of Medicine : April 1973. pdf
    • Vandenbroucke JP, Eelkman Rooda HM, Beukers H (1991). Who made John Snow a hero? Am J Epidemiol 133: 967-973.   pdf
    • Shephard DAE. John Snow: Anaesthesist to a Queen and Epidemiologist to a Nation. A Biography. York Point Publishing, Cornwall PEI. 1995.     Chapter 6(pdf)     Chapter 7(pdf)
    • Morabia A. Snow and Farr: a scientific duet. Soz Praventiv Med 2001;46(4):223-224.   pdf
    • Vandenbroucke JP. Changing images of John Snow in the history of epidemiology. Soz Praventiv Med 2001;46(5):288-293.   pdf
    • Carvalho FM, Lima F, and Krieb D. On John Snow's unquestioned long division. Letter to Editor, American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 159, No. 4, p422.   pdf
    • Paneth N. Assessing the Contributions of John Snow to Epidemiology 150 Years After Removal of the Broad Street Pump Handle. Epidemiology Volume 15, Number 5, September 2004, p514.   pdf
    • Rothman KJ. My Interview With John Snow. Epidemiology Volume 15, Number 5, September 2004 p.640.  pdf
    • Dobson MJ. Cholera. Chapter (pp 44-53) in Disease: The Extraordinary Stories Behind Histories Deadliest Killers. Quercus. 2008.   Cover/contents/preface of book
    • Oleckno WA. Remembering Dr. John Snow on the sesquicentennial of his death. CMAJ June 17, 2008. 178(13) 1691-1692.   pdf
    • Koch T. John Snow, hero of cholera: RIP. CMAJ June 17, 2008. 178(13) 1736.   pdf
       
    • Websites:
       
      UCLA
       
      Michigan State Univ.
       
      The John Snow Society (London)
       
          2011 Annual Pumphandle Lecture ' Epidemiology for the Bottom Billion - where there is not even a pump handle to remove! ' by Hans Rosling
         
    • Books about Snow: Amazon.com
       
  • 609 Assignment on the mode of communication of cholera. pdf
Topic Items
Risks and Rates
  • Farr W. "On Prognosis" by William Farr (British Medical Almanack 1838; Supplement 199-216) Part 1 (pages 199-208). Soz Praventiv Med 2003;48(4):219-224.   pdf   R code for mult. model
  • Farr W. "On Prognosis" by William Farr (British Medical Almanack 1838; Supplement 199-216) Part 2 (pages 208-216). Soz Praventiv Med 2003;48(5):279-284.   pdf
  • Vandenbroucke JP (1985). On the rediscovery of a distinction. Am J Epidemiol 121: 627-628. pdf
  • Vandenbroucke JP and Vandenbroucke-Grauls CMJE (1988). A note on the history of the calculation of hospital statistics. AJE 127, 699-702. pdf
  • Iezzoni LI. 100 Apples Divided by 15 Red Herrings: A Cautionary Tale from the Mid-19th Century on Comparing Hospital Mortality Rates Ann Intern Med. 1996;124:1079-108.   pdf
     
    • Hill GB. Comments on the paper "On prognosis" by William Farr: a forgotten masterpiece. Soz Praventiv Med 2003;48(4):225-226.   pdf
    • Gerstman BB. Comments regarding "On prognosis" by William Farr (1838), with reconstruction of his longitudinal analysis of smallpox recovery and death rates.   Soz Praventiv Med 2003;48(5):285-289. pdf
    • Eyler JM. Understanding William Farr's 1838 article "On prognosis": comment. Soz Praventiv Med 2003;48(5):290-292.   pdf
    • Elandt-Johnson R (1975). Definition of rates: some remarks on their use and misuse. Am J Epidemiol 102: 267Š271.   pdf
    • Vandenbroucke JP. Continuing controversies over "risk and rates" - more than a century after William Farr's "On Prognosis". Soz Praventiv Med 2003;48(4):216-218   pdf
    • Morabia A. Risks and Rates. Section 2.4 in A History of Epidemiologic Methods and Concepts. Edited by Alfredo Morabia. Birkhauser Verlag Basel . Boston . Berlin   pdf
    • Hanley JA. From incidence function to cumulative-incidence-rate / risk.
      Target readers: Epidemiology or AJE . 2nd Draft [comments welcome]
      ... Part I: incidence density, force of mortality, and hazard functions. pdf
      ... Part II. pdf

  • 609 Exercise on Iezzoni article.   pdf
    Reply "In Defense of Farr and Nightingale" by Vandenbroucke and Vandenbroucke-Grauls pdf
Topic Items
Rates: Models
  • Hanley J. Statistical models for inference re rates. 634 Notes. 2pp.   pdf
                    Resources for 634 lecture on Rates (Incidence) link
                    Resources for Stratified Analysis methods link
                    c634 website link
     
  • Clayton D & Hills M. Ch 22. Using regression to describe patterns in rates.   pdf
     
  • Hanley J. Regression Models for Rates - 1 pp Summary + 5 pp details pdf
     
    • 634 Assignment: inference for a single rate and for a crude and a summary rate ratio and rate difference. pdf
       
    • 634 Assignment on 'Rate Regression'   pdf
       
  • 609 Exercise. pdf
Topic Items
Semmelweiss
Topic Items
Cohort Studies
  • Doll R. Cohort studies: history of the method - I. prospective cohort studies. Soz Praventiv Med 2001;46(2):75-86. See Letter to the editor by Gerstman B.   pdf
  • Doll R. Cohort studies: history of the method - II. retrospective cohort studies. Soz Praventiv Med 2001;46(3):152-160.   pdf
    • Smith PG, Doll R. -- BMJ 284, 1982, 449-460. Mortality among patients with ankylosing spondylitis after a single treatment course with x rays.   pdf
    • Comstock GW. Cohort analysis: W.H. Frost's contributions to the epidemiology of tuberculosis and chronic disease. Soz Praventiv Med 2001;46(1):7-12.   pdf
    • J-F Boivin. material on smoking and lung cancer from Lecture in public health course zip file
  • 609 Assignment on 'cohort' studies [2012] pdf
Topic Items
Case Control Studies
Topic Items
Causes of Cancer
  • Doll R, Peto, R. the Causes of Cancer: Quantitative Estimates of Avoidable Risks of Cancer in the United States Today. JNCI 66/6: 1192-1308, June 1981.
     
    Fulltext     Fulltext courtesy of http://tobaccodocuments.org
     
    Abstract, Preface, Summary and Conclusions
     
  • White, M. The Causes of Cancer: What Has Happened Since Doll and Peto's Landmark Paper? doi: 10.1097/01.ede.0000291925.84445.b6 Abstracts: ISEE 19th Annual Conference, Mexico City, Mexico, September 5-9, 2007 Epidemiology: January 2008 - Volume 19 - Issue 1 - p S226
     
  • Nature, Nurture and Luck - Richard Peto celebrates Richard Doll, who made sense of the causes of cancer. Oxford Today, Michaelmas Issue 2005. .pdf     [link]
     
    • Willett WC. Diet, Nutrition, and Avoidable Cancer. Environmental Health Perspectives 1995. link
       
Topic Items
Social class and mental illness
http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7455.toc
Topic Items
Smoking
  • Doll R, Hill AB. Smoking and Carcinoma of the Lung. Br Med J 1950;2:739 doi:10.1136/bmj.2.4682.739 (Published 30 September 1950) link
  • Doll R and Hill AB. A Study of the aetiology of carcinoma of the lung. BMJ Dec 13, 1952.   pdf
  • BMJ. Editorial. Dec1952.   pdf
  • Doll R, Hill AB. The mortality of doctors in relation to their smoking habits: a preliminary report: Br Med J 1954:ii;1451-5. link
  • Fisher RA. 1959 pamphlet SMOKING. THE CANCER CONTROVERSY: SOME ATTEMPTS TO ASSESS THE EVIDENCE pdf     (higher resolution) individual files
  • Re-analysis of data on risk of inhaling.   data + R code
  • Mantel N, Haenszel W. Statistical Aspects of the Analysis of Data From Retrospective Studies of Disease. J. Nat. Cancer Inst. 22: 719-748, 1959.
      part1[500K]     part2[440K]     part3[250K]
  • Doll R and Hill AB. Mortality in Relation to Smoking: Ten Years' Observations of British Doctors. BMJ 1964.   part 1 pp. 1399-1410, May 30     part 2 pp. 1460-1467, June 6.
  • Wald NJ, Idle M, Boreham J, Bailey A. Inhaling and lung cancer: an anomaly explained. BMJ 287 29 Oct 1983.   pdf
  • Program 11. The question of Causation. "Against All Odds" Video Series. link
  • Doll R, Peto R, Boreham J, Sutherland I. Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors BMJ 26 June 2004 link
  • University of California, San Francisco. The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL) link
     
  • BBC. Experts Examined - Sir Richard Doll.   link
  • 3FOUR50 website. Interview with Richard Doll. 29 October, 2007. link
     
  • Harveian Oration 2012 - Halving premature death (Sir Richard Peto)
    link Username: user ; Password Rc0P1234 .
     
Topic Items
Causation
  • Hill AB: The environment and disease: association or causation? Proc R Soc Med 1965, 58:295-300.   pdf
  • Kaufman JS, Poole C. Looking back on "causal thinking in the health sciences". Annual Review Public Health. 2000;21:101-19.   pdf
  • Phillips CV, Goodman KJ. The missed lessons of Sir Austin Bradford Hill. Epidemiol Perspect Innov. 2004 Oct 4;1(1):3.   pdf
  • Phillips CV, Goodman KJ. Causal criteria and counterfactuals; nothing more (or less) than scientific common sense. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology. 2006 May 26;3:5.   pdf
    • Hill AB. Observation and Experiment. New England Journal of Medicine 1953; 248:995-1001. [with foreword by Greenland]   pdf
Topic Items
Dietary Fat and CHD
  • Keys A. Prediction and Possible Prevention of Coronary Disease. American J of Public Health 43 (November, 1953), 1399-1407.   pdf
  • Yerushalmy J and Hilleboe HE. Fat in the Diet and Mortality from Heart Disease. New York State J of Medicine 57 (1957), 2243-2254.   pdf
  • Taubes G. The Soft Science of Dietary Fat. Science 291 (2001), 2536-41, 2543-5.   pdf
     
    • Blackburn H. Website on the history of CVD epidemiology   link
       
    • Blackburn H. book chapter on Cardiovascular disease epidemiology. link
Topic Items
HRT
  • Fugh-Berman AJ. The Haunting of Medical Journals: How Ghostwriting Sold ''HRT''   pdf
  • Krieger N, et 20 al. Hormone replacement therapy, cancer, controversies, and women's health: historical, epidemiological, biological, clinical, and advocacy perspectives. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005 Sep;59(9):740-8. Review.   pdf
    • Ross RK, Mack TM, Paganini-Hill A, Arthur A, Henderson BE. Menopausal Oestrogen Therapy and Protection from Death from Ischaemic Heart Disease. The Lancet April 18, 1981. pdf
    • Grodstein F, Manson JE, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Speizer FE, Stampfer MJ. A Prospective, Observational Study of Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy and Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. Ann Intern Med. 2000;133:933-941.   pdf
    • Grodstein F, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ. Postmenopausal Hormone Use and Secondary Prevention of Coronary Events in the Nurses' Health Study A Prospective, Observational Study. Ann Intern Med. 2001;135:1-8. www.annals.org   pdf
    • Annal of Internal Medicine. SUMMARIES FOR PATIENTS. In Some Women, Postmenopausal Hormone Use Increases Short-Term Risk for Heart Disease, but Decreases Risk in the Long Term 3 July 2001 | Volume 135 Issue 1 | Page S17.   pdf
    • Writing Group for the Women's Health Initiative Investigators. Risks and Benefits of Estrogen Plus Progestin in Healthy Postmenopausal Women: Principal Results From the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Trial JAMA. 2002;288:321-333.   pdf
    • Csizmadi I, Benedetti B, Boivin F-F, Hanley JA, Collet J-P. Use of postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy from 1981 to 1997 CMAJ, Jan. 22, 2002; 166 (2)187-188.   pdf
    • Taubes G. Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy? New York Times. September 16, 2007   pdf
    • Lalonde A (Executive Vice-President, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada). 29 October 2010. Misinformation. Misinterpretation. Missed opportunity.   pdf
Topic Items
Woolf/Mantel/
Miettinen
  • Cornfield J. A method of estimating comparative rates from clinical data; applications to cancer of the lung, breast, and cervix. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1951 Jun;11(6):1269-75.   pdf
     
  • Woolf B. On Estimating the Relation Between Blood Group and Disease. Annals of Human Genetics;19:251-253, 1955.   pdf
     
  • R code for (a) analyses of data in Table 1 of Woolf(1955) and (b) calculation of statistical efficiency of 'case-control' studies with various ratios of size of denominator-series to size of numerator-series.   R code
     
  • Aird I, et al. The blood groups in relation to peptic ulceration and carcinoma of colon, rectum, breast and bronchus. An association between the ABO groups and peptic ulceration. BMJ Aug 7 1954   pdf
     
  • Mantel N:. Synthetic Retrospective Studies and Related Topics. Biometrics, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Sep., 1973), pp. 479-486.   pdf
     
  • Miettinen OS. Estimability and Estimation in case-referent studies. American Journal of Epidemiology. 1976. 103(2) 226-235.   pdf
     
  • Exercise 2012   pdf
     
  • Miettinen OS. Interviewed by J Hanley, May 2011.

    Shortened Print version : AJE   Full Video version: link

    Low-res audio version

    Time index:

    part 1 (mp3, 9MB)

    | 01.25 | 00.01.00 | two decades at Harvard, quarter century at McGill
    | 02.00 | 00.02.00 | early life, education
    | 04.25 | 00.04.25 | mathematics, and physics
    | 05.50 | 00.05.50 | languages, writing, writing style
    | 08.50 | 00.08.50 | university, physics, army, medical school
    | 11.00 | 00.11.00 | transition to biostatistics and epidemiology
    | 13.25 | 00.13.25 | University of Minnesota
    | 14.20 | 00.14.20 | biostatistics and epidemiology
    | 15.15 | 00.15.15 | textbooks at that time
    | 15.45 | 00.16.45 | epidemiologic statistics
    | 16.15 | 00.16.15 | Nathan Mantel
    | 17.15 | 00.17.15 | weights in M-H estimator
    | 18.40 | 00.18.40 | epidemiology (practice, community medicine): then versus now
    | 20.30 | 00.20.30 | osm's smoking history
    | 21.32 | 00.21.32 | screening for lung cancer
    | 22.05 | 00.22.05 | researchers and public policy
    | 23.35 | 00.23.35 | epidemiology (epidemiological research): then versus now
    | 24.30 | 00.24.30 | the work of Gary Taubes
    | 27.15 | 00.27.15 | person who most influenced osm's career
    | 28.00 | 00.28.00 | Ancel Keys
    | 29.45 | 00.29.45 | influences on osm's thinking on epidemiological research
    | 31.10 | 00.31.10 | good collaborators/consultants
    | 34.10 | 00.34.10 | CT screening for lung cancer
         
    part 2  
    | 00.00 | 00.35.xx | treading the line beween money and truth: consultation
    | 03.00 | 00.34.10 | advising (for pay) on matters epidemiological
    | 04.15 | 00.35.xx | the most influential epidemiologists
    | 10.10 | 00.35.xx | the most important teachers of epidemiology
    | 10.10 | 00.35.xx | the most important teachers of epidemiology
    | 12.05 | 00.35.xx | your most important (and also under-appreciated) paper
    | 18.00 | 00.35.xx | terms in epidemiology: incidence density
    | 20.50 | 00.35.xx | terms in epidemiology: incidence density sampling
    | 21.50 | 00.35.xx | terms in epidemiology: other
    | 23.15 | 00.35.xx | contributions I hope be be lasting (and influential)
    | 33.00 | 00.35.xx | what makes for a good teacher?
    | 35.50 | 00.35.xx | views on...
    | 36.10 | 00.35.xx | ... odds ratios ... 'case-control' studies ; case:base studies; rate ratio
    | 40.10 | 00.35.xx | ... Bayesian analysis/methods
         
    part 3  
    | 01.45 | 00.35.xx | ... multiple testing
    | 03.50 | 00.35.xx | ... sample size determination testing
    | 04.10 | 00.35.xx | ... causal inference
    | 05.25 | 00.35.xx | ... peer review
    | 07.35 | 00.35.xx | how one should choose a research topic
    | 13.35 | 00.35.xx | interests outside of epidemiology
    | 19.50 | 00.35.xx | state of health of epidemiologic practice and epidemiological research
    | 30.50 | 00.35.xx | genetic, genomics, ...
    | 33.20 | 00.35.xx | advice for a starting-out epidemiologist
    | 33.20 | 00.35.xx | end
    | 33.20 | 00.35.xx | 're-takes' and chit-chat (off the record)
         
    part 4  
    | 33.20 | 00.35.xx | chit-chat (off the record)
    ...
    ...
  • Rothman KS. When Case-Control Studies Came of Age (Invited Commentary)
    AJE Vol. 185, No. 11 DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx074
Topic Items
Case-control studies
  • Wacholder S. Selection of Controls in Case-Control Studies: I. Principles. Am. J. Epidemiol. (1992) 135(9): 1019-1028.   pdf
     
  • Wacholder S. Selection of Controls in Case-Control Studies: II. Types of Controls. Am. J. Epidemiol. (1992) 135(9): 1029-1041.   pdf
     
  • Wacholder S. Selection of Controls in Case-Control Studies: III. Design Options. Am. J. Epidemiol. (1992) 135(9): 1042-1050.   pdf
     
Topic Items
Confounding
  • Miettinen O. Confounding and effect modification. Am. J. Epidemiol. (1974) 100(5): 350-353. (Reprinted as Historical Paper in Am. J. Epidemiol. (1995) 141(12):1113-1116). pdf
     
  • Miettinen OS and Cook EF. Confounding: essence and detection. Am. J. Epidemiol. (1981) 114(4): 593-603 pdf
     
  • Vandenbroucke JP. The history of confounding. Soz Praventiv Med 2002.   pdf   other
     
  • Boivin JF. Measuring covariate data in subsets of study populations: Design options.   Slides from ISPE conference.   ppt
     
  • JH EPIB626: Examples of extreme confounding (Simpson's paradox) link
     
Topic Items
Controlling Confounding
  • Classical (not regression-based)

        JH's EPIB607 Notes: Combining measures from several strata pdf

       JH's EPIB607 Resources for inferences re proportions link

      JH's EPIB681 course webpage link

      JH's EPIB634 Resources - Stratified Data link
     
  • Regression-based
     
       JH's EPIB678L Notes: Confounding: Reducing it by Regression pdf

        'Sharper and fairer':
          - JH. Appropriate uses of multivariate analysis.
        Annual Rev Public Health. 1983;4:155-80.   pdf
          - Sharon Anderson, A Auquier, WW Hauck and D Oakes [aaho]
           Statistical Methods for Comparative Studies: Techniques for Bias Reduction
           see Chapter 2 in Readings from aaho ch1 | aaho ch2 | aaho ch3

        JH's EPIB678L More Detailed Comments on Glantz and Slinker's
        'Primer of Applied Regression & Analysis of Variance'
        Ch 1: Reducing Confounding (Bias) and Increasing Precision
        (Making Comparisons FAIRER and SHARPER)   pdf  EPIB678L webpage link

        Breslow NE and Day NE (1975).
        Indirect standardization and multivariate models for rates,
        with reference to the age adjustment of cancer incidence and
        relative frequency data. Journal of Chronic Diseases 28, 289-303. pdf

       681 Exercise: Effect of sexual activity on male longevity  Data, code  Answers

       Exposure to Scientific Theories Affects Women's Math Performance
       Article, raw data supplied by authors, and re-analysis by JH:
         all-in-1-pdf [with data & JH notes at very end]

       Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and
       pervasive developmental disorder in children

       A J Wakefield, et al. (retracted) Lancet article   pdf

       CDC staff: Commentary in same Lancet issue.

       A [Danish] population-based study of
       measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism

       c.f. bottom of linked c634 page
          (Article, Editorial, 'simulated' (but realistic) count data, code)   link

        - How could one get a crude Rate Ratio (RR) of 1.45? link

        - Why is crude RR = 1.45 if RR=1 at all ages and in all years? link

        - Link to Brian Deer (Investigative journalist, who exposed Wakefield) 's website

        - Brian Deer's pair of BMJ articles in January 2011
            Part I (see table, page 80)   Part II


       Galton's family data on human stature   link
       - 2 pp excerpt from Pearson's biography of Galton   pdf
       - Karl Pearson and Alice Lee's family data on human stature   link

       bios601 webpage on surveys, sampling and measurement link


  • 609 Exercise pdf
     
    		•
    Topic Items
    Fractions
    • Miettinen OS. Proportion of disease caused or prevented by a given exposure, trait or intervention. Am. J. Epidemiol. (1974) 99(5): 325-332.   pdf
       
    • Hanley JA. A heuristic approach to the formulas for population attributable fraction. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2001; 55:508-514.   pdf
       
    • Armitage and Berry Textbook pdf
       
    • Derivations by JH pdf
       
    • D. F. Williamson The population attributable fraction and confounding: buyer beware. Int J. of Clinical Practice. Volume 64, Issue 8, Pages 1019-1023. Published Online: 16 Jun 2010   pdf
       
      • Road Trauma in Teenage Male Youth with Childhood Disruptive Behavior Disorders: A Population Based Analysis   pdf
         
      • The use of pioglitazone and the risk of bladder cancer in people with type 2 diabetes: nested case-control study   pdf
         
      • BBC News: Website warned over MMR claims pdf
         
      • Exercise
         
    Topic Items
    Case-
    controlling

    Conditional
    logistic
    Regression

    Cox model    		 Survival analysis; risk sets; matched case control studies: (towards?) a unified view of some epidemiologic data-analyses. DRAFT of expository article by JH.
    • part I     part II

    • Vasectomy data   R code
      Article from which vasectomy data are taken:
                Efficient Assessment of Confounder Effects in Matched Follow-Up Studies
                Walker AM. Applied Statistics, 31(3), 293-297 (1982)
       
    • Woburn Study (A Civil Action)
      Movie .avi    Subtitles -- in case dialog is unclear .srt

      3 additional items (from report on Woburn study) for article II: Fig 1    Table1    Table2   

      Article: Analysis of Contaminated Well Water and Health Effects in Woburn, Mass [Lagakos, Wessen, Zelen; JASA '86]    PDF hi-res    PDF lo-res

      Discussion    PDF    Rejoinder    PDF hi-res   PDF lo-res
        
      Riskset Sampling (simulations)   .R

    • Article by, and data ( Excel file ) from, Dr Ayas on Percutaneous Injuries among Interns
       
    • Article Short and long term mortality associated with foodborne bacterial gastrointestinal
          infections: registry based study (Helms M, et al. BMJ 2003; 326: 357)
      Commentary by Evans (begins on p4)
       
    • 2012 Assignment  
    Topic Items
    Effect
    Modification
    Topic Items
    Inf. Diseases
    • WarrenJR. UNIDENTIFIED CURVED BACILLION GASTRIC EPITHELIUM IN ACTIVE CHRONIC GASTRITIS. The Lancet 1983.   pdf
       
    • MARSHALL BJ , WARREN JR. UNIDENTIFIED CURVED BACILLI IN THE STOMACH OF PATIENTS WITH GASTRITIS AND PEPTIC ULCERATION. Lancet 1984.   pdf
       
    • Marshall BJ et al. Attempt to fulfil Koch's postulates for pyloric campylobacter. MJA 1985; 142: 436-439.   pdf
       
    • FREDRICKS DN, RELMAN DA.   Sequence-Based Identification of Microbial Pathogens: a Reconsideration of KochÕs Postulates CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS, Jan. 1996, Vol. 9, No. 1 p. 18Š33 0893-8512.   pdf
       
    • Susser M, Stein Z.   Civilation and Peptic Ulcer. IJE 2001.   pdf
       
    Topic Items
    RCTs
    • Peto R, Pike MC, Armitage P, Breslow NE, Cox DR, Howard SV, Mantel N, McPherson K, Peto J, Smith PG. Design and analysis of randomized clinical trials requiring prolonged observation of each patient. I. Introduction and design. Br J Cancer. 1976 Dec;34(6):585-612. pdf
       
    • Peto R, Pike MC, Armitage P, Breslow NE, Cox DR, Howard SV, Mantel N, McPherson K, Peto J, Smith PG. Design and analysis of randomized clinical trials requiring prolonged observation of each patient. II. analysis and examples. Br J Cancer. 1977 Jan;35(1):1-39.   pdf
       
    Topic Items
    Jerry Morris
    • Preface
       
    • Morris JN. Uses of epidemiology. Br Med J 1955;2:395-401. Reprinted Int J Epidemiol 2007;36:1165-72.   pdf
       
    • Smith GD. The uses of 'The Uses of Epidemiology'. Int J Epidemiol. 2001;30:1146-1155.   pdf
       
    • Smith, GD. A Conversation with Jerry Morris. Epidemiology: November 2004 - Volume 15 - Issue 6 - pp 770--773 doi: 10.1097/01.ede.0000142155.20764.9d.   link
       
    • Kreiger N. Commentary: Ways of asking and ways of living: reflections on the 50th anniversary of Morris' ever-useful Uses of Epidemiology. Int J Epidemiol 2007;36:1173-80.   pdf
       
    • Oakley A. Commentary: Fifty years of JN Morris's Uses of Epidemiology. Int J Epidemiol. 2007;36:1184-85.
       
    • Porter D. Commentary: Calculating health and social change: an essay on Jerry Morris and late-modernist epidemiology. Int J Epidemiol 2007(36):1180-84.
       
    • N. Krieger. Jerry Morris obiit.   link
       
    • G o o g l e search  
    Topic Items
    Vaccination
    • Tutorial: the self-controlled case series method pdf
       
    • Talk by JH on efficiency in Vaccination Studies pdf
       
       
    Topic Items
    Terms / Concepts

    Miettinen
    • PowerPoint Slides: zip file
       
    • Book: Epidemiological research - terms and concepts   pdf
       
    • Book: Up from Clinical Epidemiology & EBM   pdf [ Not for unauthorized distribution]
       
    • The written questions, and the answers thereto (14 March '11)   pdf
       
    • Book: Miettinen & Karp. Epidemiologic Research: An Introduction. 2012   pdf