Section outline

  • Collapse all Expand all


    • Epidemiologic Methods II

      EPI 207 Winter 2015 (3 units)


      Course Director: Lydia B. Zablotska, MD, PhD.
    • Winter 2015 Epi 207 Syllabus File
    • Sign up to present your work-in-progress Forum

      Please let us know if you would like to make a short presentation about your research project in progress during the week when we are covering topics of interest to you.  There is no better way to learn the theoretical material than to work on an actual project.  And, as a bonus, you will get feedback from the whole class and might even find a collaborator!

      General guidelines:

      Choose a week when we will be discussing a topic of interest to you.  Let us know about it in advance.  Prepare a short 5-min presentation of your project and formulate 2-3 questions for the class.

    • News forum
    • Epi Methods II forum

      Forum for students to post questions and materials.

    • Final Exam

  • Friday, January 9, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Introduction: Causal theories and interrelationships between measures of disease occurrence

    Theories of causal inference; causal diagrams and other models for evaluation of causation; counterfactual effect measures: rate ratios, risk ratios and odds ratios, measures of attributable risk, effect measures vs. measures of association.

    Faculty:  Lydia B. Zablotska

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week 1 slides File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      Rothman, Greenland and Lash 2008 (RGL2008) Chs 2, 4, 12

    • Recommended Reading:

      Rothman 2012 (R2012) Chs 1-3

  • Friday, January 16, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) and causal structures of different types of biases  

    Intro to causal inference; causal DAGs; DAGs and confounding; DAGs and selection bias.

    Faculty:  Cindy Leung

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session slides:

    • Week #2 Slides: DAGs File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      Hernan and Robins 2014 (H&R2014), Part 1, Ch 6-9

    • Hernan & Robins - Part 1 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Discussion section readings and exercises:

    • Le-Scherban et al 2014 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Hernan et al 2001 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Ferrie et al 2013 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Sample DAG for Ferrie Atherosclerosis 2013 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Gage et al 2013 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Sample DAG for Gage AJE 2013 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Assignment:

    • Assignment Answer Key:

  • Friday, January 23, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Cohort and case-control studies
    Design features of cohort and case-control studies; Field methods for observational study designs

    Faculty: Lydia Zablotska

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week 3 slides (updated with ARS slides) File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      RGL2008 Ch 7 (pp 100-108)
      RGL2008 Ch 8 (pp 111-124)
      RGL2008 Ch 24
      H&R2014, Ch 3

    • Discussion section readings and homework assignments:

    • Fradet et al. 2009 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • CAP Dataset Files:

    • Assignment Answer Key:

  • Friday, January 30, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Less commonly used observational study designs

    Ecological and cross-sectional studies, surveys, Case-only, case-crossover, case-time-control, Special-exposure cohorts

    Faculty:  Lydia Zablotska

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week # 4 slides File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      RGL2008 Ch 7 (pp 109-110), 
      RGL2008 Ch 8 (pp125-127),
      RGL2008 Ch 22 (pp 472-476),
      RGL2008 Ch 25
      RGL2008 Ch 28 (pp573-575)
      RGL2008 Ch 30 (pp 605-606)

    • Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks:

    • Case-Cohort Design

    • Barlow et al 1999 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Prentice 1986 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Zeegers et al 2001 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Case-Crossover

    • Albert et al 2000 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Hernandez-Diaz et al 2003 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Maclure 1991 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Suissa 1995 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Discussion section readings and homework assignments:

    • Dufault and Klar 2011 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Gillespie Case-chaos studies AJE 2012 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Edelstein et al and McCarthy et al.response 2014 File

      File contains response from Edelstein et al as well as McCarthy et al's response to Edelstein

      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Stang and Jockel 2004 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Assignment Answer Key (Access restricted to registered students):

  • Friday, February 6, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Effects of measurement errors and methods to improve study accuracy and precision of risk estimates

    Exposure and disease misclassification; Measurements and measurement errors; Design features affecting precision of results, including effects of multiple comparisons; Validity and precision; Methods of sampling and estimation of sample size; Design features affecting precision of results, including matching and restriction

    Faculty:  Lydia Zablotska

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week #5 slides File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      RGL2008 Ch 9 (pp 134-147)
      RGL2008 Ch 10
      RGL2008 Ch 11
      RGL2008 Ch 13

      H&R2014 Ch 10

    • Optional Reading:

               R2012 Ch 8

    • Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks:

    • Bacchetti et al. 2005, Ethics and sample size File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • MansourniaMatchedDesignDAG_IJE File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Bacchetti 2002, Statistical issues in peer review File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Discussion section readings and homework assignments:

    • Ioannidis 2005 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Misclassification tutorial File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

  • Friday, February 13, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Confounding

    Measured and unmeasured confounding; instrumental variables and propensity scores.

    Faculty:  Lydia Zablotska

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week #6 slides File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      RGL2008 Ch 9 (pp 129-134)
      RGL2008 Ch 12
      RGL2008 Ch 15

    • Recommended Reading:

      R2012 Ch 10

    • Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks:

    • Hernan and Robins 2006 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Greenland et al 1999 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • G-estimation: Robins 1986 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • G-estimation: Tilling et al. 2002 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • G-estimation: Snowden et al. 2011 and commentaries File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • G-estimation: Danaei and Hernan 2013 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Discussion section readings and homework assignments:

    • Hernan et al 2002 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Kurth et al 2005 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Weng and Hertz-picciotto 2009 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Howards Use of DAGs and causality AJE 2012 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Assignment Answer Key (Access restricted to registered students):

  • Friday, February 20, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Interaction and effect-measure modification

    Biological vs. statistical; multiplicative and additive; evaluation of interaction, presentation of results.

    Faculty:  Lydia Zablotska

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week #7 slides File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      RGL2008 Ch 5
      RGL2008 Ch 16

      H&R2014 Chs 4-5

    • Recommended Reading:

      R2012 Ch 11

    • Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks:

    • VanderWeele_Mechanistic_Interaction_AJE2012 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • VanderWeele Vansteelandt AJE 2014 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Knol VanderWeele Eur J Epidemiol 2011 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Knol VanderWeele Int. J. Epidemiol. 2012 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Zhang Am. J. Epidemiol. 2011 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Write-up on assessment of Relative Excess Risk due to Interaction (RERI), also referred to as Interaction Contrast Ratio (ICR)

    • RERI calculations File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Discussion section readings and homework assignments:

    • Knol et al 2007 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Assignment Answer Key (Access restricted to registered students):

  • Friday, February 27, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Regression models and regression modeling

    Continuous and polytomous exposures and outcomes; poisson regression: individual and grouped GEE; non-parametric models

    Faculty:  Cindy Leung

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week 8 - Regression File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      RGL2008 Chs 17, 20, 21

    • Recommended Reading:

      R2012 Ch 12

      Hosmer and Lemeshow 2000 (book available at Mission Bay Library)

    • Discussion section readings and homework assignments:

    • Data Files:

    • Assignment Answer Key (Access restricted to registered students):

  • Friday, March 6, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Lecture: Bias and sensitivity analysis

    Selection bias and information bias; multiple biases and probabilistic bias analysis; sensitivity and influence analyses; Bayesian analysis

    Faculty:  Lydia Zablotska

    Guest: Maria Glymour


    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week #9 slides File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      RGL2008 Chs 18-19

    • Recommended Reading:

      R2012 Ch 7

    • Oakes and Kaufman 2006, Ch 16 (Glymour) File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Hernan and Cole 2009 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Fleischer Diez Roux 2007 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Discussion section readings and homework assignments:

    • Bodnar et al 2010 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Schisterman et al 2009 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Shrier Platt 2008 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Assignment Answer Key (Access restricted to registered students):

  • Friday, March 13, 2015; 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Highlighted

    Lecture: Critical review of epi studies and presentation of study findings

    Public health implications of epi research findings; synthesis of findings across studies (pooled and meta-analyses); generalizability of findings; publication bias.

    Faculty:  Lydia Zablotska

    Guest: Elizabeth Rose Mayeda

    Location:      Mission Hall 1406

    • Session Slides:

    • Week #10 slides File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Required Reading:

      RGL2008 Ch 33

    • Discussion section readings and homework assignments:

    • Cochrane meta-analysis of vit A and mortality in children 2010 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Cochrane meta-analysis of vit A and mortality in children 2010 short summary File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • Bax et a. 2008 File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • FIC_Study design questions IV File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Assignment Answer Key (Access restricted to registered students):