2005/06 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

MATH2770 Medical Statistics

10 creditsClass Size: 200

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2005/06

Pre-requisites

MATH 1740, or equivalent.

This module is approved as an Elective

Objectives

To provide an introduction to statistical methods of specific interest in medical applications. On completion of this module, students should be able to: (a) carry out appropriate nonparametric tests; (b) describe various types of clinical trials; (c) understand different sampling methods; (d) carry out parametric and nonparametric survival analysis.

Syllabus

New drugs and other treatments frequently appear on the market. However, before this stage, much research is carried out on a drug?s effectiveness; this may often be measured in relation to other existing treatments. Issues involved include how to collect reliable data which is truly representative - without treating humans as guinea pigs. In medical trials (for example, heart transplant students) the success of the outcome may only be measurable some time later, so an analysis of the survival times can be carried out. Topics covered include: 1. Design of medical studies. Double-blind randomized clinical trials; cross-over designs; cross-sectional, cohort and case-control studies; bias, confounding; observation studies. 2. Nonparametric tests. Mann-Whitney; Wilcoxon; Kolmogorov-Smirnov. 3. Sampling. Data collection, ethical considerations, introduction of bias; simple, stratified and cluster sampling. 4. Epidemiology. Rates of disease; incidence and prevalence; risk and odds. 5. Survival analysis. Parametric models; Kaplan-Meier estimator.

Teaching methods

Hours: Lectures 22; Practicals 3; Examples classes 7.

Methods of assessment

2 hour written examination (80% ), coursework ( 20% ).

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 13/05/2005

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