Epidemiology

Scholar Year: 2018/2019

Courses

Head Teacher Responsability Marta João Ribeiro Barreto Head Maria Margarida Pires da Costa Sequeira Antão Coordenador de curso

Weekly workload Hours/week T TP P PL TC S E EL OT TPL O OT/PL Type of classes 1,33 Lectures Type Teacher Classes Hours Theoretical Totals 1 1,33 Marta Barreto   1,33

Teaching language

Portuguese

Intended learning outcomes (Knowledges, skills and competencies to be developed by the students)

At the end of the course students should be able to:
• Know and Interpret the measures of frequency, association and impact used in Health;
• Identify the various types of epidemiological studies and understand their advantages and limitations;
• Understand the concepts and implications of sampling error, bias and confounding factors and know the strategies used for it control;
• Interpret the measures used in the evaluation of diagnostic tests and trace and understand the principles underlying the screenings;
• Interpret critically the results of an epidemiological study.
• Understand the major application areas of epidemiological investigation in disease prevention and health promotion.
• Know the main existing health data bases for information and health indicators used.
• Know the characteristics of a surveillance system in health.

Syllabus

Epidemiology – definition and scope; Health and Prevention: Determinants of Health, Disease control and Databases
Epidemiological measures: frequency measures - incidence and prevalence; Calculation and interpretation
Mortality measurements: general and specific rates; Calculation and interpretation of different measures: overall mortality, specific mortality, proportional mortality and mortality, calculation of mortality rates and standardization
Epidemiological Studies: classification of different types (Descriptive, analytical, Cohort, Case-control and Experimental studies); Methodological and ethical problems
Errors potential of Epidemiological Studies
Association and Causation
Screening
Validity of diagnostic tests and screening
Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology
Risk management
Epidemiology of infectious diseases
Epidemiological Surveillance
Health Planning

Teaching methodologies

The teaching / learning strategies that will be used during this course include tlectures and problem solving.

Assessment methodologies and evidences

This course has final exam waiver arrangements. The student must take a written test which includes multiple-choice questions, true-false, matching and open-response / problem solving activities in class. The approval for the course requires obtaining a grade equal to or greater than 9.5 (nine point five) values in the test. In exam time (established in the academic calendar) the student can repeat the assessment, with a different written test.

Attendance system

not applicable

Mandatory Bibliography