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Basic Concepts

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Handbook of Epidemiology

Abstract

Epidemiology is the science that focuses on the occurrence of disease in its broadest sense, with the fundamental aim to understand and to control its causes. This chapter deals with the conceptual building blocks of epidemiology. First we offer a model for causation, from which a variety of insights relevant to epidemiologic understanding emerge. We then discuss the basis by which we attempt to infer that an identified factor is indeed a cause of disease; the guidelines lead us through a rapid review of modern scientific philosophy. The remainder of the chapter deals with epidemiologic fundamentals of measurement, including the measurement of disease and the measurement of causal effects.

This chapter is adapted from Rothman KJ and Greenland S (eds) (1998) Modern epidemiology, 2nd edn. Lippinroth Williams Wilkins & Publishers, Philadelphia

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Department of Medicine, Boston University Medical Centre, 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Kenneth J. Rothman

  2. Department of Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, UCLA College of Letters and Science, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1772, USA

    Sander Greenland

  3. Department of Statistics, UCLA College of Letters and Science, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1772, USA

    Sander Greenland

Authors
  1. Kenneth J. Rothman
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  2. Sander Greenland
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiological Methods and Ethiologic Research, Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine (BIPS), Linzer Str. 10, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Wolfgang Ahrens  & Iris Pigeot  & 

  2. Division of Biometrie and Data Management, Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine (BIPS), Linzer Str. 10, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Wolfgang Ahrens  & Iris Pigeot  & 

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Rothman, K.J., Greenland, S. (2005). Basic Concepts. In: Ahrens, W., Pigeot, I. (eds) Handbook of Epidemiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-26577-1_2

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