OPAM Workshop: Basic Course in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Part I-E - Biostatics and Epidemiology

Video Transcription

Video Summary

Murray Berkowitz delivers a rapid, comprehensive lecture on epidemiology and biostatistics, focusing on key concepts needed for understanding public health data. He explains measures of disease occurrence, including incidence (new cases among at-risk populations) and prevalence (total existing cases, usually for chronic diseases). He discusses mortality rates, including cause-specific and case fatality rates, detailing how to calculate and interpret them.<br /><br />Berkowitz elaborates on diagnostic test evaluation, covering sensitivity (ability to detect disease) and specificity (ability to identify non-disease), and explains their relationship with predictive values, reliability, and sequential testing in disease screening. Using real-world examples, he illustrates risk calculations such as attributable risk, relative risk, and odds ratios, emphasizing their interpretation in disease association and causality.<br /><br />The lecture covers statistical concepts like descriptive vs. inferential statistics, types of bias (selection, measurement, recall, lead time), and data scales. He clarifies measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), variability (range, variance, standard deviation), and distribution properties, highlighting the importance of the normal distribution and the central limit theorem.<br /><br />Berkowitz concludes with hypothesis testing fundamentals: null and alternative hypotheses, type I and II errors, one- vs. two-tailed tests, and significance levels. He distinguishes statistical from clinical significance while underscoring study power and errors. Throughout, he stresses practical interpretation rather than calculation, equipping learners with tools to critically assess epidemiologic and biostatistical data.

Keywords

occupational dermatosis

occupational skin diseases

dermatitis

work-related skin conditions

clinical morphologic patterns

preventive measures

occupational history

personal protective equipment

epidemiology

biostatistics

disease occurrence

mortality rates

diagnostic test evaluation

risk calculations

statistical concepts

hypothesis testing

data interpretation