Nimo

Study smarter with Nimo

Personalised revision that adapts to you. Ace your revision with unlimited practice questions that are designed to help you learn faster. We're slowly rolling out to more and more students.

Try Nimo

Epidemiology, statistics and risk factors explained

Organisation • Animal tissues, organs and systems

Key concepts

What you'll likely be quizzed about

  • In disease studies, data appear as counts, rates, or continuous measurements.
  • Clear frequency tables record these data, with the independent variable in the first column and the dependent variable(s) in subsequent columns.
  • Column headers must include titles and units, with calculated means in the rightmost column.
  • Consistent decimal places or significant figures ensure proper calculation of incidence and risk ratios.

Flashcards

Test your knowledge with interactive flashcards

What is the first step when extracting numerical data from a bar chart?

Click to reveal answer

Read the height of the bar using the y-axis scale, identify the corresponding category on the x-axis, and convert this to counts or rates.

Key notes

Important points to keep in mind

Place the independent variable in the first column with units stated in headers.

Use bar charts for discrete categories, histograms for continuous data, and scatter plots for paired variables.

Convert graph readings into rates by dividing case counts by the population and using a standard denominator.

Utilize random, sufficiently large samples to minimize bias and improve precision.

Identify correlation with scatter plots, avoiding causation claims without further evidence.

Obesity increases Type 2 diabetes risk due to higher insulin resistance; consider BMI distributions for population risk assessment.

Excessive alcohol consumption causes liver damage and contributes to disease risk; smoking raises cancer and respiratory disease risks.

Check for confounders and population structure when comparing incidence data across different levels.

Built with v0