Advanced Topics in Causal Research: Confounding and Effect Modification

Course goals

ALL PARTICIPANTS WILL BE PLACED ON THE WAITING LIST UNTIL TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE START OF THE COURSE

GRADUATE STUDENTS:
Please be aware that you can only select a course option that shows the academic year and is offered Face-to-Face (F2F)

POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS:
Please be aware that you can only select a course option that shows the academic year and is offered Face-to-Face (F2F)  or online (depending on your registration)

(FYI: the other options are options for Continuing Education (onderwijs voor professionals))



At the end of the course, the student:
- understands the concept of confounding
- understands the different methods to determine whether there is confounding and to adjust for confounding, and is able to apply these methods in a computer practice
- understands more advanced methods to adjust for confounding namely propensity score method and instrumental variable method, and is able to apply these methods in a computer practice
- understands the usefulness of sensitivity analysis to estimate the impact of unmeasured confounding, and is able to apply these methods in a computer practice
- understands the theory of the sufficient cause model
- understands the concept of effect modification on an additive and a multiplicative scale and is able to calculate effect modification, and its confidence interval, on an additive and a multiplicative scale by hand and by computer
- understands the different ways to present effect modification in a paper and can derive information on effect modification from published studies
- understands the implications of assessing effect modification on sample size calculations and multiple comparisons
- understands the difference between effect modification and confounding

Content

Contact details: Educational Office Epidemiology
E-mail: msc-epidemiology@umcutrecht.nl

Course coordinator:
Dr. B.B.L. (Bas) Penning de Vries, UMC Utrecht, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Registration:
Face-to-Face: You can register for this course via Osiris Student. More information about the registration procedure can be found here on the Students' site. NOTE Students of the MSc Epidemiology (Post Graduate) that register in time (i.e. at least two weeks before the start of a course) will always be admitted to the course unless it is completely full. Other students will receive information about their application two weeks before the start of the course.
Online: Online courses are only available for Epidemiology Postgraduate students and can register via Osiris Student. More information about the registration procedure can be found here on the Students' site.

Course description:
This course will address two important topics in causal epidemiologic research, namely confounding and effect modification. These topics will be discussed in the context of both etiologic research and observational intervention research. Effect modification and confounding are difficult concepts to understand and often mixed up. In this course the theory as well as the practical side of these issues will be discussed.

Literature/study material used:
-
  
Mandatory for students in own Master’s programme:
Might be for a specialization programme of Epidemiology & Epidemiology Postgraduate
 
Optional for students in other GSLS Master’s programme:
Yes, Face-2-Face courses only.
 
Prerequisite knowledge:
Study Design in Etiologic Research
Modern Methods in Data Analysis