Curricular Unit:			Code:
Biostatistics and Epidemiology			161BEPI
Year:	Level:	Course:	Credits:
2	Undergraduate	Physiotherapy	5 ects
Learning Period:		Language of Instruction:	Total Hours:
		Portuguese	65
Learning Outcomes of the Curricular Unit:
Biostatistics intends to introduce and to develop the knowledge about statistic analysis techniques, presenting pertinent examples and practical situations in order to demonstrate the concepts. It is also intended to develop in the student the critical and analytical spirit, concerning the obtained results, in order to establish the degree of confidence in them. Epidemiology projects itself in learning and in practice of public health, as it works as a fundamental science. Its objectives rely on generate interest for constantly pursuing the knowledge of how diseases occur and, when they happen, why they do it in such a variety of forms.
Syllabus:
Biostatistics: Basic concepts. Descriptive statistics: type of variables, frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, partition, dispersion, asymmetry and kurtosis. Correlation and Linear regression. Random variables: discrete and continuous random variables, probability distribution function and cumulative distribution function for univariate discrete and continuous variables. Some important probability distributions for discrete and continuous variables. Confidence intervals: for the mean, for the variance, for the proportion, for RR and OR. Sample dimension calculation. Parametric and non-parametric hypothesis testing: approaches to hypothesis testing, type I and type II errors, most common tests. Epidemiology: Definition and background of epidemiology. Measuring health and disease. Causal inference: models and criteria of causality. Clinical epidemiology. Types of epidemiologic studies. Design of epidemiological studies. Planning a study.
Demonstration of the Syllabus Coherence with the Curricular Unit's Objectives:
Biostatistics and Epidemiology are instruments for scientific research about health. The selected program contents of Biostatistics are those used in exploratory data analysis and of inference of any quantitative research. In Epidemiology, several descriptive tools are used for describing the health and disease status of a population, and association tools for analysing the relation with the exposition to some factors. Different levels of prevention and types of epidemiological studies are also covered, as well as the importance of epidemiology for clinical practice and public health.
Teaching Methodologies (Including Evaluation):
Oral presentation and explanation of the programmatic contents, with the support of audiovisual media. Appeal to the active participation of the students, through an interrogative methodology. Exercise resolution and critical reading of articles. The minimum percentage of frequency in the theoretical and theoretical-practical lessons of this subject is of 50%, according to UFP Pedagogical Regulation. Evaluation is periodic, with two tests to biostatistics and one test to epidemiology, each component having a weight of 50%. The dates of the evaluation tests will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. The lack of attendance to one evaluation test implies the classification of zero for the purpose of calculation of the final classification and the non attribution of the ECTS. Pupils who present a final classification inferior to 10 values in continuous evaluation are consider non-approved and do have to perform a final examination, on a date scheduled by UFP.
Demonstration of the Coherence between the Teaching Methodologies and the Learning Outcomes:
Classes focus on active and participative methods with a view to a practical application of the critical contents covered during the lessons. The critical reading of pappers, mainly the material and methods and the results sections, will allow to understand how to write about data analysis methods, types of epidemiological studies and how to see/read the results of those methods and study types through statistical and/or epidemiological indicators obtained.
Reading:
Bioestatística [1] Daniel, WW; Cross, CL (2013) Biostatistics: A Foundation for Analysis in the Health Sciences, 10th ed., John Wiley and Sons. [2] Dawson, B; Trapp, RG (2004) Basic & Clinical Biostatistics, 4th ed., Lange Basic Science – McGraw-Hill. [3] Schork, MA; Remington, RD (2000) Statistics with Applications to the Biological and Health Sciences, 3th ed., Prentice Hall. [4] Gouveia de Oliveira, A (2014) Bioestatística Descodificada – Bioestatística, Epidemiologia e Investigação, 2ª ed., LIDEL. Epidemiologia [5] Greenberg, RS; Daniels, SR; Flanders, WD; Eley, JW; Boring, JR. (Lange’s) Medical Epidemiology, 4th ed., McGraw Hill, 2005. [6] Gordis, L. Epidemiology, 4th ed., Elsevier Saunders, 2008. [7] Friedman, GD. Primer of Epidemiology, 5th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2004. [8] Beaglehole, R; Bonita, R; Kjellström, T. Basic Epidemiology, 2nd ed., WHO, 2000.