Category: Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of epidemics and how disease moves through populations.

Data Fraud in Clinical Trials

“Highly publicized cases of fabrication or falsification of data in clinical trials have occurred in recent years and it is likely that there are additional undetected or unreported cases. We review the available evidence on the incidence of data fraud in clinical trials, describe several prominent cases, present information on motivation and contributing factors and discuss cost-effective ways of early detection of data fraud as part of routine central statistical monitoring of data quality. Adoption of these clinical trial monitoring procedures can identify potential data fraud not detected by conventional on-site monitoring and can improve overall data quality.”

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NCBI: Data fraud in clinical trials

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Invalidating Bloodletting with Science

Blood on the Tracks – Podcast Episode 38

Learn about a piece of epidemiological history: one of the earliest examples of population-level clinical studies influencing medical practice. This podcast tells the story of how French physician Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis studied a group of patients and ended up discovering quantitative evidence on the detriment of bloodletting. Learning the history helps place these tools in a broader context, which isn’t crucial, but interesting nonetheless.

Listen to the Podcast here

The first population study in history was born out of a dramatic debate involving leeches, “medical vampires,” professional rivalries, murder accusations, and, of course, bloodletting, all in the backdrop of the French Revolution. The second of a multipart series on the development of population medicine, this episode contextualizes Pierre Louis’ “numerical method,” his famous trial on bloodletting, and the birth of a new way for doctors to “know”.

Source

Bedside Rounds: Episode 38: Blood on the Tracks (PopMed #2)

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The Expanding Scope of Psychiatric Epidemiology in the 21st Century

“The series of reviews commissioned by SPPE over the past year shed important insights on the current state of psychiatric epidemiology [1-5]. Our reading of this series has led us into discussions of the scope and goals of our discipline, and how, within a historical context, it is expanding in both predicted and unforeseen ways. In this editorial we first reflect on the history of our field, and how the wealth of information in these reviews provides insight into newly emerging directions of inquiry. Then we discuss major advances and remaining challenges in the field not covered in the series. Finally, we consider the overall scope and future directions of psychiatric epidemiologic inquiry in the years to come.”

Source

NCBI: The expanding scope of psychiatric epidemiology in the 21st century

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Simpson’s Paradox

From Wikipedia…

“Simpson’s paradox, or the Yule–Simpson effect, is a phenomenon in probability and statistics, in which a trend appears in several different groups of data but disappears or reverses when these groups are combined. It is sometimes given the descriptive title reversal paradox or amalgamation paradox.”

This seems counterintuitive, but the 5 minute video below explains the concept well.

Source

Wikipedia: Simpson’s paradox

Minute Physics: Simpson’s Paradox

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