This third edition of Modern Epidemiology arrives more than 20 years after the first edition, which was a much smaller single-authored volume that outlined the concepts and methods of a rapidly growing discipline. The second edition, published 12 years later, was a major transition, as the book grew along with the field. It saw the addition of a second author and an expansion of topics contributed by invited experts in a range of subdisciplines. Now, with the help of a third author, this new edition encompasses a comprehensive revision of the content and the introduction of new topics that 21st century epidemiologists will find essential.
This edition retains the basic organization of the second edition, with the book divided into four parts. Part I (Basic Concepts) now comprises five chapters rather than four, with the relocation of Chapter 5, “Concepts of Interaction,” which was Chapter 18 in the second edition. The topic of interaction rightly belongs with Basic Concepts, although a reader aiming to accrue a working understanding of epidemiologic principles could defer reading it until after Part II, “Study Design and Conduct.” We have added a new chapter on causal diagrams, which we debated putting into Part I, as it does involve basic issues in the conceptualization of relations between study variables. On the other hand, this material invokes concepts that seemed more closely linked to data analysis, and assumes knowledge of study design, so we have placed it at the beginning of Part III, “Data Analysis.” Those with basic epidemiologic background could read Chapter 12 in tandem with Chapters 2 and 4 to get a thorough grounding in the concepts surrounding causal and non-causal relations among variables. Another important addition is a chapter in Part III titled, “Introduction to Bayesian Statistics,” which we hope will stimulate epidemiologists to consider and apply Bayesian methods to epidemiologic settings. The former chapter on sensitivity analysis, now entitled “Bias Analysis,” has been substantially revised and expanded to include probabilistic methods that have entered epidemiology from the fields of risk and policy analysis. The rigid application of frequentist statistical interpretations to data has plagued biomedical research (and many other sciences as well). We hope that the new chapters in Part III will assist in liberating epidemiologists from the shackles of frequentist statistics, and open them to more flexible, realistic, and deeper approaches to analysis and inference.
As before, Part IV comprises additional topics that are more specialized than those considered in the first three parts of the book. Although field methods still have wide application in epidemiologic research, there has been a surge in epidemiologic research based on existing data sources, such as registries and medical claims data. Thus, we have moved the chapter on field methods from Part II into Part IV, and we have added a chapter entitled, “Using Secondary Data.” Another addition is a chapter on social epidemiology, and coverage on molecular epidemiology has been added to the chapter on genetic epidemiology. Many of these chapters may be of interest mainly to those who are focused on a particular area, such as reproductive epidemiology or infectious disease epidemiology, which have distinctive methodologic concerns, although the issues raised are well worth considering for any epidemiologist who wishes to master the field. Topics such as ecologic studies and meta-analysis retain a broad interest that cuts across subject matter subdisciplines. Screening had its own chapter in the second edition; its content has been incorporated into the revised chapter on clinical epidemiology.
The scope of epidemiology has become too great for a single text to cover it all in depth. In this book, we hope to acquaint those who wish to understand the concepts and methods of epidemiology with the issues that are central to the discipline, and to point the way to key references for further study. Although previous editions of the book have been used as a course text in many epidemiology teaching programs, it is not written as a text for a specific course, nor does it contain exercises or review questions as many course texts do. Some readers may find it most valuable as a reference or supplementary-reading book for use alongside shorter textbooks such as Kelsey et al. (1996), Szklo and Nieto (2000), Savitz (2001), Koepsell and Weiss (2003), or Checkoway et al. (2004). Nonetheless, there are subsets of chapters that could form the textbook material for epidemiologic methods courses. For example, a course in epidemiologic theory and methods could be based on Chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12 with a more abbreviated course based on Chapters 1,2,3 and 4 and 6,7,8,9,10 and 11. A short course on the foundations of epidemiologic theory could be based on Chapters 1,2,3,4 and 5 and Chapter 12. Presuming a background in basic epidemiology, an introduction to epidemiologic data analysis could use Chapters 9, 10, and 12,13,14,15,16,17,18 and 19, while a more advanced course detailing causal and regression analysis could be based on Chapters 2,3,4 and 5, 9, 10, and 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 and 21. Many of the other chapters would also fit into such suggested chapter collections, depending on the program and the curriculum.
Many topics are discussed in various sections of the text because they pertain to more than one aspect of the science. To facilitate access to all relevant sections of the book that relate to a given topic, we have indexed the text thoroughly. We thus recommend that the index be consulted by those wishing to read our complete discussion of specific topics.
We hope that this new edition provides a resource for teachers, students, and practitioners of epidemiology. We have attempted to be as accurate as possible, but we recognize that any work of this scope will contain mistakes and omissions. We are grateful to readers of earlier editions who have brought such items to our attention. We intend to continue our past practice of posting such corrections on an internet page, as well as incorporating such corrections into subsequent printings. Please consult <http://www.lww.com/ModernEpidemiology> to find the latest information on errata.
We are also grateful to many colleagues who have reviewed sections of the current text and provided useful feedback. Although we cannot mention everyone who helped in that regard, we give special thanks to Onyebuchi Arah, Matthew Fox, Jamie Gradus, Jennifer Hill, Katherine Hoggatt, Marshal Joffe, Ari Lipsky, James Robins, Federico Soldani, Henrik Toft Sørensen, Soe Soe Thwin and Tyler VanderWeele. An earlier version of Chapter 18 appeared in the International Journal of Epidemiology (2006;35:765–778), reproduced with permission of Oxford University Press. Finally, we thank Mary Anne Armstrong, Alan Dyer, Gary Friedman, Ulrik Gerdes, Paul Sorlie, and Katsuhiko Yano for providing unpublished information used in the examples of Chapter 33.
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