Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of the distributions and determinants of health related status and disease in populations. It constitutes a basic science for public health and biomedical sciences, and uses observations, surveillance and experiments to test hypotheses and assess causal relationships. The ultimate goal of epidemiology is to prevent disease and to promote health.

Knowledge:

After completing the course, the student knows about:

- basic epidemiological methods

- basic methods relevant for prevention and health promotion care

Skills:

After completing the course, the student is able to

- discuss the most important study designs and their strengths and weaknesses

- understand measures of occurrence (incidence, prevalence), associations, effect modification/interaction and principles of screening

- assess possible sources of errors and causality in published studies

- use their knowledge to plan and execute studies

General skills:

After completing the course, the student is able to:

- hold the theoretical knowledge necessary to independently assess published studies related to medical causal research

- critically reflect over scientific literature and participate in discussions

Spring