Clinical Epidemiology (f2f)

In clinical epidemiology, research is focused on questions of diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and etiology. To address these questions, several research options are available, including intervention trials and case-control studies using data obtained in a clinical setting.

In the course, the principles and practice of clinical epidemiology will be considered and examples from the literature will be worked out and discussed. The aim is to provide the participants with the knowledge to evaluate and judge applied clinical research and data analysis and give a sufficient scientific and methodological background to actively participate in clinical studies.

Topics are: principles of applied clinical research, study design and analysis of diagnostic and prognostic research, study design and analysis of comparative (clinical) experimental and non experimental studies.

At the end of this course, the student is able to

• Define, explain and apply the basic terminology and principles specific for clinical epidemiology
• Differentiate between the different aspects of clinical epidemiological research (diagnostic / etiologic / prognostic / therapeutic)
• Construct a clinical research question that includes outcome, determinants and domain
• Characterize different designs of data collection used in clinical epidemiology
• Design a clinical epidemiological study
• Name and identify the data-analysis techniques that are used for the different types of clinical epidemiological studies
• Interpret the results of basic data analyses of a clinical epidemiological study
• Explain the concepts of bias, and the issues concerning confounding bias
• Read and explain clinical epidemiological scientific papers and identify, in these papers, which design of data collection and data analysis were used
• Prerequisite knowledge
• Introduction to Epidemiology
• Study Design
• Introduction to Statistics (recommended)
• Classical Methods in Data Analysis (recommended) or similar level

Our courses are aimed at clinical researchers, nurses, general practitioners, and other health professionals who want to improve their skills in epidemiology, statistics and (clinical) research.

1 week, fulltime