Ateneo - UPO

Descriptive statistics and main hypothesis tests for means and proportions. Experimental and observational study designs, association measures and exposure definition in nutritional epidemiology studies

George Pounis
Analysis in nutrition research: Principles of statistical methodology and interpretation of results
Academic Press

The course aims to provide the statistical and epidemiological bases that allow students to critically read a scientific article in the field of nutritional epidemiology and understand its contents.

None

Lectures with the support of slides, discussion and interpretation of the content of scientific articles concerning the topics covered in class

The material used in class and exercises will be made available on the DIR platform
Students with disabilities, DSA, BES, once they have contacted the University Staff, can contact the teacher in charge of the course in relation to the declination of the exam methods, regarding the teaching aspects.

The exam of the module "Introduction to statistical and epidemiological methods" consists of 10 multiple choice questions relating to the content of a scientific article that will be sent to students the afternoon before the exam and to the topics covered during the course.The exam of the integrated course "Impact of diet on human health" consists of 34 questions (10 multiple choice questions for the modules: Promotion of healthy diet and disease prevention, Introduction to statistical and epidemiological methods and endocrine and metabolic disease and 4 (3 open and 1 multiple choice) for the nutrition in internal medicine: implication for health and disease module. The pass mark will be achieved if the student correctly answers 60% of the exam questions of the entire integrated course

Descriptive statistics (frequencies, measures of central tendency and variability)
Basics of probability (definition of probability, probability of intersection, union, complement and conditional probability, and the normal random variable)
Introduction to statistical inference
Chi-square test
T-test for independent and paired samples
Study designs (randomized controlled clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies and meta-analyses)
Disease frequency and association measures (risk, incidence rate and prevalence, odds ratio, relative risk, hazard ratio)
Data collection and definition of exposure in nutritional epidemiology studies (foods, food groups, nutrients, a priori diet, a posteriori diet)

Knowledge:
Knowledge of the basics of statistics and the main study designs and measures of disease frequency and association between diet and risk of disease’s onset.
Skills:
Understanding the content of a scientific article in the field of nutritional epidemiology.
Transversal skills:
Ability to critically read a scientific article in order to evaluate what information is already available in the scientific literature regarding a specific question and consequently direct their research.