PE4S092 - Epidemiology and Biostatistics for Public Health 01 Sep 2023 - 31 Aug 2028 | Version 4

Associated Module Information

Module Code: PE4S092
Module Title: Epidemiology and Biostatistics for Public Health
Faculty: Faculty of Life Sciences and Education
Faculty Group: Health and Social Care
Faculty Sub Group: Health and Social Care
Module Leader: Joseph Sunday
Module Team: Nova Corcoran, Lasith Dissanayake, Christopher Roberts, Precious O'Driscoll
First Intended Intake: FEB 2016 Final Year of Intake: 2027
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 20 Credit Level: 7
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 101317 - environmental and public health
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 4
Valid From 01 Sep 2023
Valid To 31 Aug 2028

Module Aims

This module aims to introduce students to both fundamental and advanced concepts in epidemiology and biostatistics and the application of these concepts in study of public health.

Content Summary

Key Principles of Epidemiology: health surveillance and descriptive epidemiology; measures of association and impact; interpreting associations and understanding chance, bias, and confounding; standardisation; years of life lost, life expectancy and DALYs.
Epidemiological Research Studies and biostatistical techniques: ecological studies; cross-sectional studies and surveys; cohort studies; case-control studies; intervention studies and evidence synthesis.
Common Statistical Methods used in Epidemiology and Biostatistics: descriptive statistics, correlation and regression, risk; measure of association, survival analysis; confidence intervals and inferential statistics, parametric and nonparametric tests; introduction to the use of statistical package.
Applied Epidemiology: screening; outbreak investigation and surveillance; public health planning; critical appraisal and systematic reviews (meta-analysis).

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lecture 28
Tutorial 2
Practical classes and workshops 4
Directed Study 142
Formative Assessment - Scheduled 4
Formative Assessment - Independent 8
Interdisciplinary work 4
Problem / challenge based learning 8
Total Hours Selected 200

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Critically appraise, understand, analyse, and interpret public health studies applying epidemiological and biostatistical methods and concepts to various public health issues while being able to conduct and interpret appropriate epidemiological and biostatistical analyses of public health data.
LO2 Describe and discuss different epidemiological designs and critically interpret epidemiological information and research applied in various aspects of public studies and research while engaging with information in relevant public health databases

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Synchronous Onsite Assessment (Exam) Onsite Closed Book Examination 1 Unseen Time-constrained Examination 120 N/A 100 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Onsite Closed Book Examination 1 ✔ ✔

Reading List

Kirkwood, B.R. and Sterne, J.A.C. (2003). Essential Medical Statistics. 2nd Edition. Malden Mass: Blackwell Publication.

Gordis, L. (2009). Epidemiology 4th Edition. Philadelphia: Elsevier/Saunders.

Guiseppe, L.T. (2010). Applied Epidemiology and Biostatistic Torino: SEEd.

Farmer, R.D.T. and Lawrenson, R. (2004). Epidemiology and public health medicine 5th Edition. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishing.

Coggon, D., Barker, D.J.P. and Rose, G.A. (2003). Epidemiology for the uninitiated 5th Edition. London: BMJ.

Bhopal, R. (2008). Concepts of Epidemiology. Oxford University Press.

Bowers, D. (2014). Medical statistics from scratch: An introduction for health professionals. 3rd Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated

Bruce, N., Pope, D. and Stanistreet, D. (2018). Quantitative methods for health research: A practical interactive guide to epidemiology and statistics. 2nd Edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Carneiro, I., Howard, N. and Bailey, L. (2011). Introduction to epidemiology 2nd Edition. Maidenhead: Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Carr, S., Unwin, N. and Pless-Mulloli, T (2007). An Introduction to Public Health and Epidemiology. 2nd Edition, Maidenhead: Open University Press

La, T.G. (2010). Applied Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Torino: SEEd.

Merrill, R.M. (2017). Introduction to Epidemiology. 7th Edition. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Norman, G. and Streiner, D. (2014). Biostatistics. 4th ed., Shelton: People's Medical Publishing House.

Porta, M., Greenland, S., Herna´n, M., Silva, I. and Last, J. (2014). A dictionary of epidemiology. 6th Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rothman, K.J. (2012). Epidemiology: an introduction. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Somerville, M., Kumaran, K. and Anderson, R. (2016). Public health and epidemiology at a glance. 2nd Edition. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Additional Resources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011). Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice. Third Edition. An Introduction to Applied Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/index.html
Health Knowledge Open Access On-Line Course http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/
Public Health England. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england
Public Health Wales. Available at: https://phw.nhs.wales/