Medical Statistics Made Easy 2e - now superseded by 3e
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About this ebook
This new edition of Medical Statistics Made Easy 2nd edition enables readers to understand the key statistical techniques used throughout the medical literature.
Featuring a comprehensive updating of the 'Statistics at work' section, this new edition retains a consistent, concise, and user-friendly format. Each technique is graded for ease of use and frequency of appearance in the mainstream medical journals.
Medical Statistics Made Easy 2nd edition is essential reading for anyone looking to understand:
* confidence intervals and probability values
* numbers needed to treat
* t tests and other parametric tests
* survival analysis
If you need to understand the medical literature, then you need to read this book.
Reviews:
"This book helps medical students understand the basic concepts of medical statistics starting in a 'step-by-step approach'. The authors have designed the book assuming that the reader has no prior knowledge. It focuses on the most common statistical concepts that are likely to be faced in medical literature.
All chapters are concise and simple to understand. Each chapter starts with an introduction which consists of “how important” that particular statistical concept is, using a 'star' system. A 'thumbs-up' system shows how easy the statistical concept is to understand. Both these systems indicate time-efficient learning allowing yourself to focus on areas you find most difficult. Following this, there are worked out examples with exam-tips at the end of some chapters.
The last chapter, 'Statistics at Work', shows how medical statistics is put into practice using worked out examples from renowned journals. This helps in assessing the reader’s own knowledge and gives them confidence in analysis of statistics of a journal.
In conclusion, we would recommend this book as an introduction into medical statistics before plunging into the deep 'statistical' waters! It gives confidence to the reader in taking up the challenge of understanding statistics and [being] able to apply knowledge in analysing medical literature."
Stefanie Zhao Lin Lip & Louise Murchison, Scottish Medical Journal, June 2010
"If ever there was a book that completely lived up to its title, this is it...Perhaps above everything, it is the chapter layout and design that makes this book stand out head and shoulders above the crowd. At the beginning of each chapter two questions are posed – how important is the subject in question and how difficult is it to understand? The first is answered on the basis of how often the subject is mentioned / used in papers published in mainstream medical journals. A star rating is then given from one to five with five stars implying use in the majority of papers published. The second question is answered by means of a ‘thumbs up’ grading system. The more thumbs, the easier the concept is to understand (maximum of five). This, of course, provides a route into statistics for even the most idle of uneducated individuals! Five stars and five thumbs must surely indicate time-efficient learning! At the end of each chapter exam tips (light bulb icon!) are given – I doubt anyone could ask for more!
The whole way in which the authors have written this book is commendable; the chapters are succinct, easy to follow and a pleasure to read...Is it value for money? – a definite yes even at twice the price. Of course I never exaggerate but if you breathe, you should own this book!"
Ian Pearce, Urology News, June 2010
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Medical Statistics Made Easy 2e - now superseded by 3e - M. Harris
MEDICAL STATISTICS MADE EASY 2
MEDICAL STATISTICS MADE EASY 2
Michael Harris
General Practitioner and Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, Bristol, UK
and
Gordon Taylor
Senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics, University of Bath, UK
Second edition © Scion Publishing Ltd, 2008
ebook ISBN 978 1 904842 55 2
First edition published in 2003 by Martin Dunitz (ISBN 1 85996 219 X)
Reprinted 2004, 2005, 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Scion Publishing Limited
Bloxham Mill, Barford Road, Bloxham, Oxfordshire OX15 4FF
www.scionpublishing.com
Important Note from the Publisher
The information contained within this book was obtained by Scion Publishing Limited from sources believed by us to be reliable. However, while every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy, no responsibility for loss or injury whatsoever occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of information contained herein can be accepted by the authors or publishers.
Although every effort has been made to ensure that all owners of copyright material have been acknowledged in this publication, we would be pleased to acknowledge in subsequent reprints or editions any omissions brought to our attention.
Typeset by Phoenix Photosetting, Chatham, Kent, UK
Printed by Gutenberg Press Ltd, Malta
Abbreviations
Preface
About the authors
Foreword
How to use this book
How this book is designed
Statistics which describe data
Percentages
Mean
Median
Mode
Standard deviation
Statistics which test confidence
Confidence intervals
P values
Statistics which test differences
t tests and other parametric tests
Mann–Whitney and other non-parametric tests
Chi-squared test
Statistics which compare risk
Risk ratio
Odds ratio
Risk reduction and numbers needed to treat
Statistics which analyze relationships
Correlation
Regression
Statistics which analyze survival
Survival analysis: life tables and Kaplan–Meier plots
The Cox regression model
Statistics which analyze clinical investigations and screening
Sensitivity, specificity and predictive value
Level of agreement and Kappa
Other concepts
Statistics at work
Standard deviation, relative risk and numbers needed to treat
Odds ratios and confidence intervals
Correlation and regression
Survival analysis
Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values
Glossary
Index
This book is designed for healthcare students and professionals who need a basic knowledge of when common statistical terms are used and what they mean.
Whether you love or hate statistics, you need to have some understanding of the subject if you want to critically appraise a paper. To do this, you do not need to know how to do a statistical analysis. What you do need is to know why the test has been used and how to interpret the resulting figures.
This book does not assume that you have any prior statistical knowledge. However basic your mathematical or statistical knowledge, you will find that everything is clearly explained.
A few readers will find some of the sections ridiculously simplistic, others will find some bafflingly difficult. The thumbs up
grading will help you pick out concepts that suit your level of understanding.
The star
system is designed to help you pick out the most important concepts if you are short of time.
This book is also produced for those who may be asked about statistics in an exam. Pick out the exam tips
sections if you are in a hurry.
You can test your understanding of what you have learnt by working through extracts from original papers in the Statistics at work
section.
Dr Michael Harris MB BS FRCGP MMEd is a General Practitioner and Senior Lecturer in Medical Education in Bristol, UK. He teaches nurses, medical students and GP Registrars. Until recently he was an examiner for the MRCGP.
Dr Gordon Taylor PhD MSc BSc (Hons) is a Senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics at the University of Bath, UK. His main role is in the teaching, support and supervision of health care professionals involved in non-commercial research.
A love of statistics is, oddly, not what attracts most young people to a career in medicine and I suspect that many clinicians, like me, have at best a sketchy and incomplete understanding of this difficult subject.
Delivering modern, high quality care to patients now relies increasingly on routine reference to scientific papers and journals, rather than traditional textbook learning. Acquiring the skills to appraise medical research papers is a daunting task. Realizing this, Michael Harris and Gordon Taylor have expertly constructed a practical guide for the busy clinician. One a practising NHS doctor, the other a medical statistician with tremendous experience in clinical research, they have produced a unique handbook. It is short, readable and useful, without becoming overly bogged down in the mathematical detail that frankly puts so many of us off the subject.
I commend this book to all healthcare professionals, general practitioners and hospital specialists. It covers all the ground necessary to critically evaluate the statistical elements of medical research papers, in a friendly and approachable way. The scoring of each brief chapter in terms of usefulness and ease of comprehension will efficiently guide the busy practitioner through his or her reading. In particular it is almost unique in covering this part of the syllabus for