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Across the last forty years, epidemiology has developed into a vibrant scientific discipline that brings together the social and biological sciences, incorporating everything from statistics to the philosophy of science in its aim to study and track the distribution and determinants of health events. A now-classic text, the second edition of this essential introduction to epidemiology presents the core concepts in a unified approach that aims to cut through the fog and elucidate the fundamental concepts. Rather than focusing on formulas or dogma, Epidemiology: An Introduction presents basic epidemiologic principles and concepts in a coherent and straightforward exposition. By emphasizing a unifying set of ideas, students will develop a strong foundation for understanding the principles of epidemiologic research.
1. Introduction to Epidemiologic Thinking
2. Pioneers in Epidemiology and Public Health
3. What is Causation?
4. Measuring Disease Occurrence and Causal Effects
5. Types of Epidemiologic Studies
6. Infectious Disease Epidemiology
7. Dealing with Biases
8. Random Error and the Role of Statistics
9. Analyzing Simple Epidemiologic Data
10. Controlling Confounding by Stratifying Data
11. Measuring Interactions
12. Using Regression Models in Epidemiologic Analysis
13. Epidemiology in Clinical Settings
Appendix
Index
Kenneth J. Rothman, DrPH, is a Distinguished Fellow at RTI International, an independent nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. He is also Professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Medicine at Boston University. His research interests in epidemiology have spanned a wide range of health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurologic disease, birth defects, injuries, environmental exposures, and drug epidemiology, but his main career focus has been the development and teaching of the concepts and methods of epidemiologic research.
"The small size and relaxed narrative style almost persuade the reader that they are enjoying an interesting novel, and, unlike bulkier tomes, it lends itself to reading on the move or at home. However, far from light reading, the content provides indepth, well constructed descriptions of theories and concepts. These are supported by practical examples, using widely-known studies and common conditions, which even someone at the beginning of their epidemiology education could easily connect with with [...] In this respect. the book is useful to the graduate student and encourages an appreciation of the public health considerations common to many diseases and conditions. The narrative style is used to great advantage in some chapters, to discuss causation, measures of disease occurrence and epidemiology in clinical settings, as well as in the new chapters in this edition which describe the pioneers of epidemiology and infectious disease epidemiology."
– Public Health Today, June 2013
"In summary, this book is a brilliant introductory book to learn concepts of epidemiology. In contrast to the many available introductory books (several of them written in a naive way), this book does not trivialize these concepts. It perfectly prepares the reader for the reference book of epidemiologic methods entitled Modern Epidemiology by Rothman et al [...] I am not aware of any other introductory book of epidemiology that presents these many epidemiologic concepts. It is a perfect – although demanding – reader for an introductory course of epidemiology in master programs of epidemiology, public health, and at medical schools."
– European Journal of Epidemiology
"If you want a thorough grounding in technical terms, Rothman is unsurpassed."
– Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, Feb 2013
"This is an excellent introduction to the principles and concepts of epidemiology. In a little over 200 pages Rothman covers all the essential topics for an introductory graduate level course in epidemiology."
– European Journal of Public Health
"Epidemiology: An Introduction is a superb addition to other publications that have appeared in the past decade. The author has achieved the stated goal of providing a coherent overview of epidemiologic principles and concepts."
– American Journal of Epidemiology
"Kenneth Rothman has taken the time to write a short and excellent introductory epidemiology textbook [...] Frequently introductory texts strive for brevity through superficiality of coverage. Rothman chose a different approach: selectivity of subject matter. As a result, Epidemiology: An Introduction provides an exceptionally lucid overview of analytic epidemiology [...] The mix of text, graphics, tables, and sidebars that is used throughout the book proves very useful in explicating important concepts such as confounding, interaction, study design, and biases, which may be challenging to the student in an introductory course [...] The clarity of expression in this book should be an inspiration to other authors and teachers of epidemiology."
– The Epidemiology Monitor
"This text is ideal for beginners in epidemiological statistics to learn the terminology and understand how and when to use statistical tools. The text focuses on concepts, not on mathematics, and discusses statistical techniques in the context of the real problems they can solve. This text bridges the gap between what is taught in an introductory statistics text and what you need to be an effective researcher and analyst."
– STATA
"Students and scholars who pursue epidemiology as a career should find this book a useful addition to their library [...] a worthwhile new edition"
– Doody's Notes, April 2013
