Analysis of Health Datasets.

Catalog description

Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Corequisites: EPID 650 and STAT 643 , or permission of instructor. Epidemiologic research, health services research and social/behavioral science research very often conduct "secondary analysis" of existing population-level datasets, as well as different forms of health care data (claims data, electronic prescribing data, electronic medical records). At the end of the course, students will be familiar with the scope of available large, population-based public datasets for health care and public health research. They will understand the strengths and limitations of using these datasets for secondary research and be able to apply this understanding to decisions regarding research questions, dataset use and analysis plans. In the process, they will also develop skills in manipulating complex administrative data sources (including claims data, electronic prescribing data and electronic medical records). Students will acquire knowledge to deal with potential challenges in implementing case-control or cohort studies based on data collected for reasons other than for research. Competencies in sampling methods, weighting, small area estimation techniques, probabilistic matching, multiple imputation methods, geocoding and other issues will be emphasized. Students will download, link and analyze several data sets to understand the advantages of these data. Familiarity with statistical analysis software is required.