Epidemiology for Public Health Practice » (4th Edition)

Friis, Robert H., PhD (California State Univ Long Beach); Sellers, Thomas A., PhD, MPH (Mayo Clinic)

Friis (health science, California State University) and Sellers (director, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, University of South Florida) survey topics in epidemiology, from study designs to quantitative measures, in this introductory text for undergraduate and graduate students. Written in an accessible style, the text includes chapter questions and exercises, plus real-world applications of epidemiology. This third edition includes updated data and statistics, and new discussions of contemporary issues, such as anthrax, bioterrorism, and the SARS epidemic. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Paul D. Stolley

This is the second edition of a standard text of epidemiology that emphasizes the practical applications of the epidemiologic method to solving problems met by public health practitioners. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with a brief summary and questions for study and discussion. The purpose is to convey the full array of epidemiologic methods and the applications of these methods in the practical field of public health. A problem often encountered in teaching epidemiologic methods is that the details of methods obscure the purpose of the method; theory and practice are often divorced and the methods can appear unrelated to problem-solving in the "real world" of public health practice. The authors claim the audience for this book is the widest possible: medical and school of public health students, social science students, nursing students, and so on. This claim is a conventional way to increase sales, and the intended audience is usually not as broad. In this case, however, the authors have truly created a book that is sophisticated yet written with such clarity and verve that it is indeed suitable for students of epidemiology at many levels: undergraduate and postgraduate, medicine, nursing, and students at schools of public health. This second edition is not a major revision of the first, but it does contain some significant additions to modernize the book. A chapter on the use of genetics and molecular biology in epidemiology is a welcome update as is the section on "emerging infections" and the use of the Internet. As with the first edition, it is replete with interesting examples and graphics, which continuously capture the reader's interest andtransmit the excitement and enjoyment of the field of epidemiology. Many similar texts omit the history of the field, but here there is a brief but accurate chapter summarizing some of the important contributors and developments in epidemiology and public health. The chapter on psychological behavior and social epidemiology is problematic, however. The section on so-called "type A" personality and coronary heart disease is outdated and does not reflect the current view, which is more skeptical of the theory. Other aspects of this chapter strike me as less critical than much of the rest of the book. Both authors are experienced public health teachers, practitioners, and investigators with many years of field experience and a strong appreciation of epidemiology as both a useful method and an exciting field of inquiry. There are currently over 25 introductory textbooks of epidemiology in contrast to the very few available 25 years ago. This book stands in the top tier by virtue of its clarity, richness of examples, clever use of figures and tables, and the ability of the authors to convey their own excitement and pleasure working in the field to the readers/students. The length is about right for a one semester course. The layout and typography ease the task of reading, and the questions for discussion tend to stress important aspects of the chapter. Finally, the emphasis on practical application of the method breathes a sense of reality into the book absent in many of the competing texts.