Customer Reviews

A Dictionary of Epidemiology

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a resident, I frequently prepared journal clubs, where we have to carefully discuss and scrutinize studies. I gained some introduction from "Appleton and Lange's Review of Epidemiology and Biostatistics for the USMLE". But preparing for journal clubs was quite different. There are many of statistical and epidemiological terminology in each article, some I am familiar with, but others are confusing and new. In this very helpful "dictionary" I was able to find more than 95% of the terms with brief definition and good short explanation that successfully allowed me to soundly evaluate the studies and prepare an impressive brief, neat handouts. The great thing about this dictionary was its well organization and ease to find what you are looking for. My friends frequently borrowed when they have to prepare their journal clubs, and found it really helpful.
It is a dictionary; i.e., arranged alphabetically sequencing the terms, and if a term has more than one name, they mention them all, before the explanation.
I highly recommended to every resident, as it will not only will help during residency, but also surely during real life and practice, especially a with hundreds of "trials, studies" appears in medical journal daily.
I gave it four not five stars, because few explanation were rather short, despite informative, and lack of illustration and pictures, which may require you to use a regular textbook in Epidemiology, this happened maybe almost 1 from every 10 terms.

One of the major problems with studying the field of epidemiology is the inconsistency of terminology that is used. This is because the field is relatively young, is actively evolving and has developed from multiple other disciplines including the social sciences as well as the medical sciences and statistics. As a result, it can be both confusing and frustrating for the student. This dictionary is the "bible" of terminology for the fireld, in part because there is no other. This should be an absolute requirement for the shelf of every student in the field of epidemiology. Even experienced epidemiologists are encouraged to have a copy for reference purposes. The only caution is that a new edition is due out soon. It can only be better than the first edition. Get it.

The Dictionary of Epidemiology, sponsored by the International Epidemiology Association, is a 290-page book containing approximately 2600 definitions of words, acronyms and concepts used in epidemiology. It comprises a short reader guide on how best to use the Dictionary, and a reference section complemented by a bibliography.
Compared to the four previous editions, the fifth edition incorporates the developments of epidemiologic activity over the last ten years: evidence-based medicine, genetic epidemiology, causal models and graphs. The Dictionary can be of interest to a wide audience of people, scientists or not, who either just discovered or are familiar with epidemiology.

A useful reference by John Last, which, I believe, will be his last edition. Beginning researchers, especially non-epidemiologists such as clinicians, will find that many of the statistical and epidemiologic terms which they encounter in the medical literature are defined here in one compact reference.

I'm a first year student in a doctoral program in epidemiology. This book has been a life saver!

In this world of Wikipedia, Google, and the like, you could think that a good old-fashioned dictionary is, well, out of fashion. Maybe. But Porta's updated edition of the classic Last's Dictionary of Epidemiology meets its main objective: serving as a reference for students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners in the field of epidemiology. The book includes a vast array of terms, many of them extremely current, in hot topics from genetics to environmental to social epidemiology. It offers different meanings and points of view for those terms that might have different interpretations, as well as the different terms referring to a particular concept. The book has benefited from the input from a vast array of epidemiologists, including leading figures in the field, working in different areas, and this is easily perceived. The reason why the book does not get a five-star rating is because, in this day and age, the ideal format for this work would be a website, which would allow frequent updates and, when necessary, the inclusion of new terms. Some kind of epidemiologic wikipedia, in short. Maybe for a next edition...

It explains various defination in epidemiology with excellent explanation. Great source of help for my master's program in research.

I am a doctoral student in epidemiolgy and have been working in the field of public health for the past ten years. This book is highly recommended. It is particularly useful for MDs and other professionals who need quick and easily understandable explainations of epidemilogical terms.

As a research and teaching assistant, as well as a 2nd year Epidemiology student, I have found this to be the absolute BEST book for resources within the subject. I have used this book to grade papers against (with definitions), and have used it in my own understanding of forgotten or convoluted concepts. If you want a very accurate, succinct definition of everything epi, you need this book. In fact, if you are involved in Epi in ANY way, you need this book. It is a wonderful book for an even better price. I carry it with me at all times.

I purchased this dictionary while reading for my masters degree in public health and found myself using it on an almost daily basis, particularly when working on my thesis. As other reviewers have pointed out, many of the terms used by epidemiologists are still evolving, and this dictionary does a great job explaining their meanings in a clear manner. It also implicitly cautions against committing common errors found in the literature (for example, the term "rate" is often incorrectly used by epidemiologists to refer to proportions despite the fact that they contain no units of time). All students of epidemiology and public health should own this book.