Introduction to Epidemiology - Online

Course goals

1. Use and explain the basic terminology and principles used in epidemiology;
2. State important historical and current developments in Epidemiology and the role of Health Data Science and have an understanding of what is expected of the epidemiologist of the future;
3. Have insight in the different fields of epidemiological research as covered at UMC Utrecht and Utrecht University;
4. Have insight in the core competences of an Epidemiologist defined by the MSc Epidemiology program;
5. Distinguish between common measures of frequency (e.g., incidence, prevalence), association (e.g., risk difference, risk ratio, odds radio)  and impact (e.g. population attributable fraction) that are commonly used in epidemiological research;
6. Calculate these measures using simple numerical examples;
7. Tell apart and explain the difference between epidemiological research with a causal, predictive or descriptive aim;
8. Tell apart and state the (dis)advantages of the different study designs used in epidemiological research: cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies;
9. Read and interpret (simple) epidemiological scientific abstracts, and recognize in these abstracts which study design was used;
10. Apply the correct measures of frequency and association belonging to the different epidemiological study designs;
11. Demonstrate basic knowledge of the three main categories of bias (selection bias, information/measurementbias, and confounding) in relation to a research aim, and recognise how they may arise in epidemiological studies.

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