OVERVIEW

The medical statistics course introduces the methodology of clinical research. The core topic of the course will focus on clinical trials and evidence-based medicine. Students will be introduced into the world of scientific articles, able to understand the results of clinical trials and to interpret the statistical terminology that accompanies them. The aim of the course is to give a glimpse of the research world and provide the tools for accessing it.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The variability of biological, clinical, laboratory, social and environmental. Measurement error.

Statistical nature of the observations.

Frequencies absolute, relative, percentage.

Collection, organization and representation of data.

Synthesis of data: indices of central tendency (medium analytical and location, quantiles) and dispersion indices.

Overview of probability theory: conditional probabilities and independence criterion, the principles of the sum and product.

Probability distributions: Gaussian distribution.

General aspects of statistical inference: population and sample. Confidence intervals of averages and percentages.

Statistical evaluations in the classification of a diagnostic test.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to convey to the student the following capabilities:

reading and understanding of the maximum results of the scientific literature, with particular reference to controlled clinical trials.

Knowing the process of publication of scientific articles

Understanding the meaning of the statistical tests in the scientific  works 

Understanding the meaning of the diagnostic test characteristics

Knowing how to interpret the results of a meta-analysis

TEACHING METHODS

The lesson is divided into 32 hours of training activities, including 28 hours of classroom lessons on all subjects in the program and 4 hours of practical exercises with reading of scientific articles, research presentations and seminars. All that is presented in the classroom will be subject to examination.

Any Student with documented Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), or with any special needs, shall reach out to the Lecturer(s) and to the dedicated SLD Representative in the Department before class begins, in order to liase and arrange the specific teaching methods and ensure proper achievement of the learning aims and outcomes.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Scientific articles and EBM.

The randomized clinical trial.

The stages of clinical trials.

The meta analysis.

Effects of treatment effects.

Tst diagnostics and their features.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

All the lessons (slides / articles) will be put on the Classroom. Lessons will be provided on Aulaweb.

You might find useful to integrate the notes and the material on the website with the following textbooks:

Corrao S.-Conoscere e usare PubMed. Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore

Recine U., Di Girolamo M.-Casi clinici ed Evidence Based Medicine. Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore Russo

P., Pitaro M. - Manuale di sperimentazione clinica. Il Pensiero scientifico Editore

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MARCELLO MONTEFIORI (President)

ANDREA ORSI (President)

VALENTINA PENNAZIO (President)

MARIA PIA SORMANI (President)

ALESSANDRO VERRI (President)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Please refer to the Web Agenda | University of Genoa, available at the following link: https://easyacademy.unige.it/portalestudenti/

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

A written exam with open questions

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The assessment will be conducted by evaluating the content of the answers, to evaluate if the student has understood the main concepts. Each module will have a scor and the final score will be the weighted mean of the single scores. The wheights are the CFU of each module.

Exam schedule