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Epidemiological Studies

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Medical Writing and Research Methodology for the Orthopaedic Surgeon

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Abstract

Epidemiology has been defined as the ‘study of the distribution and determinants of disease frequency’ in human populations. In their excellent book on Epidemiology in Medicine, Hennekens et al. state that epidemiology may be viewed as based on two fundamental assumptions. Firstly, that human disease does not occur at random and secondly that human disease has causal and preventative measures that can be identified through systematic investigation of different populations or subgroups of individuals within a population in different places or at different times. Major areas of epidemiological study include the aetiology, transmission and screening of disease and investigations of the effects of treatment, these often being undertaken in prospective randomised studies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Trauma, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Charles M. Court-Brown

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Trauma, MaineGeneral Medical Center, Augusta, ME, USA

    Stuart A. Aitken

Authors
  1. Charles M. Court-Brown
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  2. Stuart A. Aitken
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles M. Court-Brown .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Associate Director of Service, Director of Orthopaedic Trauma and Research, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Cyril Mauffrey

  2. Departement Chirurgie Orthopédique, Clinique Chirurgicale St Michel, Toulon, France

    Marius M. Scarlat

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Court-Brown, C.M., Aitken, S.A. (2018). Epidemiological Studies. In: Mauffrey, C., Scarlat, M. (eds) Medical Writing and Research Methodology for the Orthopaedic Surgeon. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69350-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69350-7_6

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