Practical biostatistics. A user-friendly approach for evidence-based medicine. (Q2918676)

The book under review is aimed at providing a practical guide for planning, conducting and analysing epidemiological and clinical studies using the software Microsoft Excel. It addresses to students, clinical investigators, medical or healthcare professionals interested in applied biostatistics. There are 15 chapters and one appendix on a total of 236 pages which are organized into three principal parts (besides the introduction in chapter 1) dealing with observational studies (chapters 2 and 3), biostatistics of a clinical trial (chapters 4-10) and additional concepts in biostatistics (chapters 11-15).NEWLINENEWLINEChapter 1 introduces certain characteristics of epidemiological and clinical studies. Chapter 2 provides epidemiological measures of association between exposure and occurrence of an event for case-control as well as cohort studies. Methods for controlling confounders in observational studies (stratification, multivariate analysis) are discussed in chapter 3. The main part of the book starts in chapter 4 with the formulation of hypothesis and the description of erroneous outcomes of statistical tests (type I and type II errors). The principles of sample size calculation for standard situations (difference in means, difference in proportions) are provided in chapter 5. After a short introduction to types of data measurement scales in chapter 6, tendency and dispersal measures are presented in chapter 7, and in addition their calculation is illustrated by using Microsoft Excel. In preparation for statistical hypothesis testing, chapter 8 deals with the normal distribution and methods for verification of normality. Chapter 9 is devoted to parametric and non-parametric statistical tests and chapter 10 focuses on the estimation process in statistics (point and interval estimates). The last part of the book on specific topics in biostatistics, starting with the illustration of individual and collective benefit and risk indexes in chapter 11. Statistical measures of the performance of a diagnostic test (sensitivity, specificity, predictive values) are provided in chapter 12. Aspects of systematic reviews and meta-analyses are described in chapter 13. In chapter 14 correlation and regression are introduced. The last chapter 15 deals with different population analysis (intention-to-treat, per protocol) in clinical trials. The volume ends with an appendix on basic features of Microsoft Excel.NEWLINENEWLINEIn summary, the book under review is strongly recommended as a practical guide for readers interested in applied biostatistics. Each chapter of the book is accompanied by practical examples and a huge set of reflection questions and answers. In addition, all calculations are visualized by showing screenshots of Microsoft Excel.