Epidemiological research is ubiquitous. Even if you don’t realise it, you come across epidemiological studies and the impact of their findings every single day. You have probably heard that obesity is increasing in high income countries or that malaria is killing millions of people in low income countries. It is common knowledge that smoking causes cancer and that physical activity is protective against heart disease. These facts may seem obvious today, but it took decades of epidemiological research to produce the necessary evidence. In this course, you will learn the fundamental tools of epidemiology which are essential to conduct such studies, starting with the measures used to describe the frequency of a disease or health-related condition. You will also learn how to quantify the strength of an association and discuss the distinction between association and causation. In the second half of the course, you will use this knowledge to describe different strategies for prevention, identify strengths and weaknesses of diagnostic tests and consider when a screening programme is appropriate.
Give your career the gift of Coursera Plus with $160 off, billed annually. Save today.
Measuring Disease in Epidemiology
This course is part of Epidemiology for Public Health Specialization
Instructor: Filippos Filippidis
24,892 already enrolled
Included with 
(750 reviews)
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Calculate and interpret appropriate measures in order to describe disease frequency, association and attributable risk for given scenarios.
Calculate sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, in order to interpret these values in the context of screening.
Skills you'll gain
Details to know
Add to your LinkedIn profile
7 assignments
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
Build your subject-matter expertise
- Learn new concepts from industry experts
- Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
- Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
- Earn a shareable career certificate
Earn a career certificate
Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV
Share it on social media and in your performance review
There are 4 modules in this course
One of the main purposes of epidemiology is to describe the frequency of diseases or other conditions that are important for the health of populations. Depending on the circumstances, there are different types of measures that you can use to do this. In this module, you will learn to calculate measures such as the prevalence, odds, cumulative incidence and incidence rate. We will highlight what they have in common as well as their differences. By the end of the module, you will be able to select and calculate the appropriate measure of frequency in a variety of contexts.
What's included
5 videos9 readings1 assignment2 discussion prompts1 plugin
This module starts by introducing the distinction between association and causation, which is critical not only for epidemiology, but for research in general. Subsequently, you will learn all the main measures epidemiologists use to quantify association; mainly risk and rate differences and risk, rate and odds ratios. Over the course of this module, you will develop the skills to calculate and interpret measures of frequency. This is not enough by itself though, so you will also learn to select the most appropriate measure depending on the research question and the availability of data.
What's included
5 videos5 readings2 assignments1 discussion prompt
Published studies often report the magnitude of the association they investigate, which is clearly important when trying to identify causal links. Sometimes though, what we are interested in is the impact of a factor or of a disease on the population as a whole. This is when the concepts of attributable risk and of population attributable risk come in handy. These measures quantify the population impact of a health-related factor and therefore are particularly useful for health policy. Equipped with this knowledge, you will then explore the two main approaches to disease prevention: the high-risk and the population approach.
What's included
3 videos4 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt
Diagnostic tests are used all the time to determine whether an individual is sick or not. However, these tests are far from perfect. Quantifying their imperfection allows us to understand their limitations and interpret their results. In this module, you will learn to calculate and interpret the metrics used to do this, including sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. Using these metrics, you will subsequently learn to evaluate whether a screening programme can be effective or not considering its methodological and practical aspects.
What's included
6 videos6 readings3 assignments1 plugin
Instructor
Offered by
Recommended if you're interested in Public Health
University of Minnesota
University of Michigan
American Museum of Natural History
Imperial College London
Prepare for a degree
Taking this course by Imperial College London may provide you with a preview of the topics, materials and instructors in a related degree program which can help you decide if the topic or university is right for you.
Why people choose Coursera for their career
Learner reviews
Showing 3 of 750
750 reviews
- 5 stars
82.18%
- 4 stars
13.29%
- 3 stars
2.52%
- 2 stars
0.39%
- 1 star
1.59%
New to Public Health? Start here.
Open new doors with Coursera Plus
Unlimited access to 7,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription
Advance your career with an online degree
Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online
Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business
Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy
Frequently asked questions
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.