Biostatistics and Epidemiology

These flashcards contain essential vocabulary and definitions from biostatistics and epidemiology concepts to help students prepare for their exams.

Evidence Based Health Care

Management of patients using the current best evidence of effectiveness.

Epidemiology

The study of disease distribution in populations, determinants, and application to prevent health problems.

Descriptive Statistics

Data that summarizes characteristics of a sample.

Inferential Statistics

Data used to make conclusions about a population based on a sample.

Independent Variable (IV)

The variable that is manipulated by the researcher.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The variable measured to see the effect of the independent variable.

Sampling Error

The difference between the estimated result from a sample and the true population parameter.

Prevalence

The total number of existing cases of a disease in a population at a specific time.

Incidence Rate

The frequency of new cases of a disease over a defined period.

Random Sampling

A sampling method where every individual has an equal chance of being selected.

Type I Error

Rejecting the null hypothesis when it is actually true.

Type II Error

Failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is false.

Cohort Study

A study that follows a group of healthy individuals over time to identify disease outcomes.

Case-Control Study

A study that compares individuals with a disease to those without it to find exposures.

Odds Ratio (OR)

A measure of association between exposure and an outcome.

Statistical Significance

Determination of whether an observed effect is likely due to chance.

Confidence Interval (CI)

A range of values that is believed to contain the true population parameter with a specified probability.

Normal Distribution

A probability distribution that is symmetric about the mean, showing that data near the mean are more frequent in occurrence than data far from the mean.