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Statistics in Medicine

Medicine deals with treatments that work often but not always, so treatment success must be based on probability. Statistical methods lift medical research from the anecdotal to… Read more

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Description

Medicine deals with treatments that work often but not always, so treatment success must be based on probability. Statistical methods lift medical research from the anecdotal to measured levels of probability. This book presents the common statistical methods used in 90% of medical research, along with the underlying basics, in two parts: a textbook section for use by students in health care training programs, e.g., medical schools or residency training, and a reference section for use by practicing clinicians in reading medical literature and performing their own research. The book does not require a significant level of mathematical knowledge and couches the methods in multiple examples drawn from clinical medicine, giving it applicable context.

Key features

  • Easy-to-follow format incorporates medical examples, step-by-step methods, and check yourself exercises
  • Two-part design features course material and a professional reference section
  • Chapter summaries provide a review of formulas, method algorithms, and check lists
  • Companion site links to statistical databases that can be downloaded and used to perform the exercises from the book and practice statistical methods

New in this Edition:

  • New chapters on: multifactor tests on means of continuous data, equivalence testing, and advanced methods
  • New topics include: trial randomization, treatment ethics in medical research, imputation of missing data, and making evidence-based medical decisions
  • Updated database coverage and additional exercises
  • Expanded coverage of numbers needed to treat and to benefit, and regression analysis including stepwise regression and Cox regression
  • Thorough discussion on required sample size

Readership

Medical and public health students, both at the graduate and undergraduate level; physicians and researchers.

Table of contents

Foreword to the Second Edition, W. M. (Mike) O'Fallon, Professor Emeritus and former Head of Div. of Biostatistics, Mayo ClinicForeword to the First Edition, Vice Adm. Richard A. Nelson, Surgeon General of the U.S. NavyDatabasesI. A Study Course of Fundamentals1. Data, Notation, and Some Basic Terms2. Distributions3. Summary Statistics4. Confidence Intervals and Probability5. Hypothesis Testing: Concept and Practice6. Statistical Testing, Risks, and Odds in Medical Decisions7. Sample Size Required for a Study8. Statistical Prediction9. Epidemiology10. Reading Medical ArticlesAnswers to Chapter Exercises, Part III. A Reference Guide11. Using the Reference Guide12. Planning Medical Studies13. Finding Probabilities of Error14. Confidence Intervals15. Tests on Categorical Data16. Tests on Ranked Data17. Tests on Means of Continuous Data18. Multifactor Tests on Means of Continuous Data19. Tests on Variances of Continuous Data20. Tests on the Distribution Shape of Continuous Data21. Equivalence Testing22. Sample Size Required for a Study23. Modeling and Clinical Decisions24. Regression and Correlation Methods25. Survival and Time-Series Analysis26. Methods You Might Meet, But Not Every DayChapter SummariesReferences and Data SourcesTables of Probability DistributionsSymbol IndexSubject Index

Review quotes

"...the author presents statistical concepts in fairly simple language and in a format that will make it especially appealing to a clinician...All clinicians will find this book useful, whether they are students, residents, or practitioners...particularly helpful to clinicians who do not have the time or interest in getting comprehensive training in biostatistics, yet need to understand and use these concepts in their professional careers...particularly useful are the illustrations and examples, exercises along with their answers, appendixes, and use of real data. Formulas are explained clearly, in a step-by-step fashion...This is one of the few books that presents hard to understand statistical concepts applied to real-world medical data in a relatively simple manner. The second edition expands on the first and includes more advanced topics as well as current concepts."—DOODY Enterprises, Inc.

"This book is excellent value for the clinician who wants to evaluate the research (s)he reads and for those who carry out research."—Margaret Moss, UK, for JOURNAL OF NUTRITIONAL & ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINEFrom the Foreword: "I congratulate Dr. Riffenburgh on his career as a medical statistician and for this useful text/reference book, which I commend to all who teach statistics to students in the health-related fields and to all who are engaged in or are consumers of health-related research."— W. M. (Mike) O'Fallon, Professor Emeritus and former Head of Biostatistics and Chair of the Dept. of Health Science Research, Mayo ClinicPraise for the first edition: "This user-friendly text is laid out in a practical fashion that includes numerous examples for applying complex tests. This book is complete enough for even the hard core bioresearcher."—Richard A. Hill, University of California-Irvine

"Statistics can be overwhelming for the health professional and Dr. Riffenburgh gives them the tools to make preparing proposals using statistical applications easy. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any professional, novice or seasoned, involved in the research process."—Capt. Peggy McNulty, U.S. Naval Health Clinic, Hawaii

Product details

About the author

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Robert H. Riffenburgh

Robert H. Riffenburgh, PhD, advises on experimental design, statistical analysis, and scientific integrity of the approximately 400 concurrent studies at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. A fellow of the American Statistical Association and Royal Statistical Society, he is former Professor and Head, Statistics Department, University of Connecticut, and has been faculty at Virginia Tech., University of Hawaii, University of Maryland, University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, and University of Leiden (The Netherlands). He has been president of his own consulting firm and performed and directed operations research for the U.S. government and for NATO. He has consulted on biostatistics throughout his career, has received numerous awards, and has published more than 140 professional articles.
Affiliations and expertise
Naval Medical Center, San Diego, California, USA

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