28211 - DEMOGRAPHY, STATISTICS AND EPIDEMIOLOGY

Subject type: Basic

Coordinator: Carolina Chabrera Sanz

Trimester: First term

Credits: 6

There may be some scientific reading in English.

The subject of Demography, Epidemiology and Biostatistics is included in the basic training of the Degree in Nursing. It is taught in the first semester of the second year. This course will allow students to acquire the fundamental concepts and methods of Demography and Epidemiology, as well as know their usefulness and application in the field of health. The student will become familiar with the main designs of epidemiological studies that will allow the professional a critical reading of the scientific evidence and be able to design and carry out quality scientific research. Finally, they will learn the principles of statistics, at a basic level, which will allow them to read and interpret articles critically, as well as prepare scientific papers and conduct research in accordance with international standards. In this way, the subject will be structured in three thematic blocks: Demography, Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

LO 2. Know different types of computer programs.

LO 23. Use the most common statistical techniques applied to population studies.

LO 24. Samples and populations. Sampling techniques.

LO 25. Define the basic demographic concepts: mortality, birth rate, migration, aging.

LO 26. Describe sources of demographic data.

LO 27. Calculate and interpret the usual demographic indicators.

LO 28. Recognize and interpret statistical language appropriately.

LO 29. Identify the characteristics of a community.

LO 30. Know the most common statistical techniques applied to population studies.

LO 31. Know the measures of frequency of health problems and identify the designs of epidemiological studies.

LO 37. Understand the concept and evolution of public health.

Regarding the training activities and the methodology used in them, the following table summarizes them including the credits assigned to each of the activities and competencies that are worked on. The aim of this combination of activities is for the student to play an active role in their educational cycle (carrying out the exercises and assignments, participating in classes and seminars, ...) and to interact with the rest of their classmates (in the problem solving, doubts, ...). This methodology aims to encourage critical thinking and the ability to work in a team.

  The characteristics of the different activities are described below:

Plenary sessions (lectures)

They present and describe in a structured and systematic way the fundamental concepts and contents of the program. They are developed with all students and last 1 hour and 45 minutes (includes 1 hour and 35 minutes of presentation and 5-10 minutes of recapitulation and resolution of doubts / questions of students). The program is designed sequentially, to which the concepts and skills acquired in one lesson pass on to the following.

Seminars

Their purpose is the discussion and in-depth analysis of different methodological aspects of the syllabus through the presentation, discussion and interpretation of practical cases. They take place in small groups and last approximately 1 hour. They will be started once the master class block has been completed.

Work in group

They aim for students to create a database after the explanation in a master class.

Virtual Campus (Moodle)

Students will have at their disposal on the virtual campus (Moodle) all the informative documentation of the subject (program and bibliography) and different teaching support materials: PDF of the presentations used by the teacher in the master classes, scripts of seminars, some of the complementary readings and web links.

Tutorials

Students will be able to receive personalized attention and discuss with the teacher during the consultation hours previously announced or with prior agreement.

1. STATIC DEMOGRAPHY: Presentation of the course: programme, work methodology and assessment. Concept of demography, static and dynamic demography, human populations, sources of information (the register and the census), websites of interest (INE and IDESCAT) and presentation, analysis and interpretation of data (the age pyramids). Teacher: Mateu Serra.
2. DYNAMIC DEMOGRAPHY: Birth rate and fertility, overall mortality, age-specific and cause-specific mortality, avoidable mortality, potential years of life lost, life expectancy. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
3. TAX STANDARDIZATION: standardization of fees by the direct method and by the indirect method. Exercises 1. Teacher: Elisabet Palomera.
4. MIGRATION: Population growth, population aging, migratory movements and population policies (fertility, aging and migration). Teacher: Mateu Serra.
5. FREQUENCY MEASUREMENTS: Prevalence, cumulative incidence, incidence density. Exercises for its estimation. TYPES OF VARIABLES: qualitative and quantitative variables, measurement, reliability, accuracy and validity. Exercises 2. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
6. ASSOCIATION MEASURES and IMPACT MEASURES: relative risk (RR), odds ratio (OR), attributable risk (RA), etiological fraction. Exercises for your estimation. Exercises 3. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
7. CONFUSION. Concept of confusion and methods for its detection and elimination (stratified analysis). Examples. Exercises 4. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
8. INTERACTION or modification of the effect. Concept of interaction and methods for its detection. Examples. Exercises 5. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
9. APPROACH TO EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDIES: Criteria for their classification, characteristics of the various types of designs, advantages and limitations. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
10. DIAGNOSTIC TESTS: Concepts of "gold standard", sensitivity, specificity, predictive values ​​(positive and negative) and ROC curves. Exercises 6. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
11. PARTIAL TEST 1st block (demography and epidemiology). Continued avaluation. Teacher: Mateu Serra and Elisabet Palomera
12. DATA COLLECTION AND QUESTIONNAIRES: How to prepare a data collection notebook: selection of variables, definition of variables, measurement scales, sources of information. Data quality. Types of questionnaires (self-administered, ...), types of questions, validation of questionnaires.
13. DATA MANAGEMENT: Database concept. How to create an electronic database with ACCESS. Teacher: Elisabet Palomera.
14. ACCESS SEMINAR: Guided practices with ACCESS (creating a BBDD with Access). Teacher: Elisabet Palomera.
15. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS: Description of quantitative variables: measures of central tendency (mean, median and mode) and measures of dispersion (standard deviation, range, quartiles). Description of quantitative variables: percentages. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
16. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND DATA CLEANING SEMINAR: Analysis and interpretation of frequency tables and descriptive analyses, with the JAMOVI program. Practical cases Teacher: Elisabet Palomera.
17. SAMPLING AND BASIC CONCEPTS OF INFERENTIAL STATISTICS I: Random sampling, standard error, confidence intervals. Exercises 7. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
18. BASIC CONCEPTS OF INFERENTIAL STATISTICS II: Type 1 or alpha error, type 2 or beta error, statistical power, level of statistical significance (p), calculation of sample size. Exercises 8. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
19. MAIN HYPOTHESIS CONTRAST TESTS: Comparison of means (T-Student, U-Mann Whitney, ANOVA) and comparison of proportions (Chi squared, Fisher and McNemar's exact test). Teacher: Elisabet Palomera.
20. PROPORTION COMPARISON SEMINAR. Analysis and interpretation of the results of the comparison of proportions, with the JAMOVI program. Practical cases Teacher: Elisabet Palomera.
21. SEMINAR COMPARISON OF AVERAGES. Analysis and interpretation of the results of the comparison of averages, with the JAMOVI program. Practical cases Teacher: Elisabet Palomera.
22. LINEAR AND LOGISTIC REGRESSION. Concept and interpretation of simple and multiple linear regression analysis and simple and multiple logistic regression analysis. Practical examples. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
23. LINEAR REGRESSION AND LOGISTICS SEMINAR. Analysis and interpretation of linear regression and logistic regression results, with the JAMOVI program. Practical cases Teacher: Elisabet Palomera.
24. SURVIVAL ANALYSIS. Concept and interpretation of survival analysis and Kaplan-Meier tables. Practical examples. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
25. Concept and interpretation of META-ANALYSIS. Practical examples. Teacher: Mateu Serra.
26. PARTIAL TEST 2nd block (Biostatistics). Continued avaluation. Teacher: Mateu Serra and Elisabet Palomera.

Continuous assessment (60% of the final grade of the subject)

• Practical demography and epidemiology test (15% of the final mark). It does not release matter.
• Biostatistics practical test: (20% of the final mark). It does not release matter.
• Individual exercises (8): 16% of the final grade (2% each exercise)
• BBDD Access (in group): 9% of the final grade

Compulsory final exam (40% of the final grade of the subject if a score higher than or equal to 4,5 is obtained).

If you get a score below 4 on the final exam or if you get a score below 5 on the overall assessment you will have to go to the resit exam. In this case, the resit exam will continue to weigh 40% of the final grade (the remaining 60% will continue to be that of the continuous assessment).

The test that can be recovered in the case of failing the course is the final exam (not the continuous assessment).

NOTE: According to UPF regulations, students who have the option of retrieving the subject are those who have obtained a "suspended" grade, which are the only ones that can be modified in the recovery process.

The total or partial copy in any of the learning activities will mean a "Not Presented" in the subject, without option to present in the proof of recovery and without prejudice of the opening of a file for this reason.