Ateneo - UPO

Introduction to Evidence Based Medicine (EBM), with focus on statistical methods and study design

Articles and teaching materials provided during the lesson.

Knowledge of the main methods for experimental study in medicine and meta-analyzes. Understanding of the statistical aspects related to the analysis of survival and the conduct of meta-analyses

The exam of “Quantitative Science” should be passed as required by the didactic regulations of the medical course

Lectures with the aid of power point slides and exercises concerning the evaluation of the conduct and results of studies deriving from scientific articles relating to controlled and randomized clinical trials and meta-analysis and evaluation of the quality of the studies

The material used in class 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 consists of 10 multiple-choice questions related to the content of a scientific article that will be sent to the students the afternoon before the exam, as well as to the syllabus of the module “Statistics for EBM.” At the time of the exam, a version of the article will be made available containing only the introduction, materials and methods, and tables and figures related to the results.

Characteristics of randomized controlled trial (RCT) Between and within patients study designs Randomization methods Sample size Systematic errors Measurements of association and impact Basics of survival analysis Real word evidence vs RCT Bibliographic search Study quality assessment Meta-analyses: Types of literature review Definition of the objective of the study Literature search Inclusion and exclusion criteria Data collection Statistical analysis, fixed and random effects models, assessment of heterogeneity between studies Sensitivity analysis

Knowledge: At the end of the course, students will know: i) the main features of controlled and randomized clinical trials ii) the main statistical methods for the analysis of studies from controlled and randomized clinical trials iii) the scales useful for assessing the quality of a study iv) the methods of conducting a meta-analytic study Skills: Students will be able to: i) include conducting a controlled and randomized clinical trial ii) carry out a search of the scientific literature regarding a specific clinical question and evaluate the quality of the articles found and the consequent reliability of the results iii) understand how a meta-analytic study is performed Transversal skills: Understand and critically evaluate the content of a scientific article in order to guide clinical practice, being able to choose between patient care options.