Critical appraisal of epidemiological studies and clinical trials
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Critical appraisal of epidemiological studies and clinical trials
（Oxford medical publications）
Oxford University Press, 1998
2nd ed
- : hc
- : pbk
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Note
Rev. ed. of: Causal relationships in medicine / J. Mark Elwood. 1988
Includes bibliographical references (p. 359-371) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780192627445
Description
Critical appraisal is now the central focus of evidence-based medicine and knowledge-based healthcare, and is currently a major influence in most countries. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and new sections on meta-analysis, evidence based medicine and misclassification have been added. This book presents a system of critical appraisal to help the reader evaluate studies in the health and medical fields.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. The important of causal relationships in medicine and health care: What is causation?
- A direct test of causation
- Methods of counting events
- Summary
- Self-test questions
- 2. Study design which can demonstrate and test causation: Relationship of study design to the definition of causation
- A classification of comparative studies
- Classification by groups of people compared
- Classification by time relationships
- More complex designs
- Characteristics of the different study designs: intervention trials
- Observational cohort studies
- Case-control studies
- Cross-sectional surveys
- Summary of comparisons
- Summary
- Self test questions
- 3. The results obtained from studies of causation: Cohort and intervention studies
- Relative risk and relative odds
- Risk difference (attributable risk)
- preventive factors, and application to intervention studies-number needed to treat
- person-time as the denomator of rates
- More than one causal agent
- Case-control studies
- Use of the odds ratio
- Different sampling schemes in case-control studies: why a cause can also be a control
- Surveys
- general applicability of these analytical approaches
- Summary
- Self test questions
- 4. Selection of subjects for study: Target, source eligible, and participant populations
- the distinction between internal and external validity
- selection bias and its effects
- Methods of reducing selection problems
- Selection of subjects for comparative studies
- Selection of the comparison studies
- Selection of subjects in randomized intervention studies
- Selection of subjects for a cohort study
- Selection of subjects for a case-control study
- Choice of the control group in case control studies
- Assessment of selection issues in a completed study
- Summary
- Self test questions
- 5. Error and bias in observations: Sources of error and bias
- Practical issues in reducing bias and error
- Examples of bias
- Assessment of bias and error
- Assessment of the consistency of information
- Effects of misclassification on study results
- Summary
- Self test questions
- 6. Confounding: Confounding - definition and non-mathematical examples
- confounding in cohort and intervention studies
- Confounding in case-control studies
- Methods for the control of confounding
- Control of confounding
- restriction
- Randomization
- Stratification
- Matching
- Multivariate methods
- Application of the definition of confounding to study design
- Application of the definition of confounding to analysis
- Summary
- Self test questions
- 7. Chance Variation: The concept of significance
- Simple statistical tests for a two-by-two table
- The Mantel-Haenszel test. The concept of precision
- confidence limits
- Statistical power and the size of the study
- repeated testing in trials - stopping rules and data monitoring groups
- Ordered exposure variables and tests of trend
- Assumptions in stratification
- interaction
- Statistical tests in matched analysis
- Statistical tests in multivariate analysis
- Issues in the interpretation of results
- Summary
- Self test questions
- 8. Combining results from several studies: meta-analysis: The process of meta-analysis
- Publication bias
- Finding and selecting studies for inclusion
- Analyses based on original data, or on published results
- Limitations of meta-analysis
- Exploring differences between studies
- Statistical methods in meta-analysis
- the Cochrane collaboration
- Summary
- Self test questions
- 9. The Diagnosis of causation: What evidence do we have? Description of the evidence
- Internal validity - consideration of non-causal explanations
- Internal validity - consideration of positive features of causation
- External validity - generalization of the results
- Comparison of the results with other evidence
- Assessing causal relationships in making decisions
- Further application of these concepts
- Application of the scheme in designing a study
- The application of critical appraisal to health care decisions - evidence based medicine
- Summary
- Critical appraisal of published work - introduction
- 10. Critical appraisal of a randomized clinical trial
- 11. Critical appraisal of a randomized trial of a preventive agent
- 12. Critical appraisal of a prospective cohort study
- 13. Critical appraisal of a restrospective cohort study
- 14. Critical appraisal of a matched case-control study
- 15. Critical appraisal of a large, population based, case-control study
- Answers to self test questions
- Appendices
- Appendix 1: Statistical analysis methods: formulae and worked examples
- Appendix 2: Lifetable methods: List of contents
- Appendix 3: Statistical Tables: list of tables
- References
- Index
- Volume
-
: hc ISBN 9780192627452
Description
This text is a developed and expanded successor to "Causal Relationships in Medicine: a Practical System for Critical Appraisal" Critical appraisal is now the central focus of evidence-based medicine and knowledge-based healthcare, and is currently a major influence in most countries. The book has been thoroughly revised and new sections on meta-analysis, evidence-based-medicine and misclassification have been added. The text presents a system of critical appraisal to help the reader evaluate studies in the health and medical fields. It should be of particular interest to postgraduate students in health sciences (public health and clinical research) and undergraduate medical students for whom the book can act as a methodological textbook with emphasis on critical thinking.
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