Medical Statistics

Deng Dan
The Department of Medical Statistics

 Statistics

maybe lifeless or gruesome numbers

For

examples:

When the results of an experiment or of a series

of observations have been recorded, there arises the
problem of interpreting them and deriving reasonable
conclusions.
Sometimes the results are self-evident and
interpretation is easy, but these situations are seldom
so decisive.

 The

first story:
a survey about who those speedy drivers are.

67 males: 110 109 90 140 105 150 120 110 110 90 115 95 145 140
110 105 85 95 100 115 124 95 100 125 140 85 120 115 105 125
102 85 120 85 120 110 120 115 94 125 80 85 140 120 92 130 125
110 90 110 110 95 95 110 105 80 100 110 130 105 105 120 90
100 105 100 120
88 females: 80 75 83 80 100 100 90 75 95 85 90 90 120 85 100 120
75 85 80 70 85 110 85 75 110 105 120 130 115 86 70 70 85 80
100 75 100 105 110 102 87 90 70 50 110 80 90 105 120 80 100
135 105 78 90 75 95 130 78 100 95 90 105 110 85 97 85 100 130
140 97 98 100 105 110 70 125 90 95 110 90 95 80 110 120 140
75 88

 The

second story:
The debate about whether Aspirin reduces
heart attack rates or not.

1. The results of a five-year randomized experiment

conducted using 22,071 male doctors between the age of
40 and 84.
2. There are two groups in the experiment. One group
took an ordinary Aspirin tablet every other day, while
the other group took a placebo.
3. The observation results is that taking Aspirin actually
caused the lower rate of heart attacks for that group.
4. Whether was the results reasonable or not? Whether
did the conclusion have broader value or not?

Preface
the definitions of statistics
the definitions of medical statistics
why to study medical statistics
the three major areas of concern for researchers
the steps of statistics works
the six basic statistical concepts

 A science

dealing with the collection, analysis,

interpretation, and presentation of numerical data.

A collection

of procedures and principles for

gathering data, sorting data, analyzing
information in order to help people make
decisions when faced with uncertainty.

A science

and art of dealing with variation in data

through collection, classification and analysis in
such a way as to obtain reliable results.

 Statistics

is a applied subjects. It is used

widely and limitlessly in many fields, such as
industry, agriculture, finance, business,
government, etc.

Medical

Statistics

A science of the application of

mathematical statistics in field of medicine.

 Basic

requirement of the medical research

Updating
Data

your medical knowledge

management and treatment

 How

should we collect the data, and how

much data is needed?

How
What

can we effectively summarize the data?

decisions or generalizations are

possible based on the observed data?

Design
Data

Collection

Data

Classification

Data Analysis

 Homogeneity
Population

and Variation

and Sample

Parameter and

Statistic

Error
Frequency
The

and Probability

types of data in medical statistics

 The

most important step in every study.

Professional

design and statistical design

The former decides the research aim, subjects,

measures, etc

The latter decides sampling methods, sample size,

randomization, the methods of data analysis, etc.

 The

foundation of every study

Characters

Accuracy
In time
whole
Investigate

and Experiment

 data

systematic and summarized

Logic

examination

Sorting

data
ascending or descending

Establishment

the frequency table

A effective method of data classification

 The

major contexts of every study

Descriptive

statistics and inferential statistics

The former, to describe and to summarize the

important features of data by calculating one or more
statistical figures and drawing some statistical
graphs and statistical tables.

The latter, to make a generalization from the sample to

the population including the estimation of population
parameter and the hypothesis testing.

 Homogeneity
All individuals have some same observation values or
belongs to same category.

Variation
The some difference of observations between the
homogeneity individuals.

The

relationship of homogeneity and variation

Variation should absolutely exist in some individuals, but

homogeneity should not.

 Population
The whole collection of individuals that one intends to
study. It consists of the finite population and infinite population.

Sample
A subset of the population. It is characteristic that sampling
from a population, randomization, enough quantity and the
representative part of the population.

The

relationship of population and sample

Population

sampling
inference

Sample

 Parameter
The measure of the population or of the distribution of
population. Its usually presented by Grecian letter. Its often
uncover but can be estimated. One population has only a series
of stable parameters.

Statistic
The measure of sample or of the distribution of sample.
Its usually presented by Latin letter. It can often be calculated.
Different samples have different statistics themselves.

The

relationship of parameter and statistic

Parameter
Statistic
inference

 The

difference between observation and true

value.

Systematic

error and random error

The former may be avoided by changing researchers habits or

adapting machines, but the latter can not for existing consistently
in any studies.

sampling

error

The difference between samples and population.

The difference between statistics and parameter.

 Frequency
At one experiment, random event A existed by m times while
a observation is repeated by n times, then, the frequency of A
random event may be defined: f(A)=m/n.

Probability
A measurement for the possibility of occurrence of a
random event. Its range is from 0 to 1. The probability of
random event A is often defied: P(A).

The

relationship of frequency and probability

Frequency is close to probability when the number of

observation is large enough. Also say, probability is the stable
value of frequency.

 The

small probability value

Habitually, we define P(A) 0.05 as small probability

value.

The

small probability event

If random event A occurrences less than 5 times in

100 times repeated observations, we usually named the
random event A as the small probability event.

The

rule of the small probability event

If random event A is defined as small probability

event, we can consider that the random event A would
occur impossibly at one randomized observation.

 Numerical

data(also say:continuous
variable,measurement data, quantitative data)

Categorical

data(also say:discontinuous
variable, enumeration data, quality data)

Ranked

variable)

data(also say:sequential category

Sam
ple
1

Population

Sam
ple 2

Sample
Sample n

Summary
To master

the steps of medical statistics and the

types of data in medical statistics

To master

these concepts as follows:

population and sample, parameter and statistic,
probability, the small probability event.

To learn

about the definition of statistics and

medical statistics.

Exercises 1
1. Lets decide which is the population as follows:
. All the students in a class in our university
. All the permanent residents in Chongqing
. All the rats for testing the toxicity of a medicine
. For researching the growth conditions of Chongqing
children, we chose all the students in some class in
Yuzhong area.

Exercises 2
Lets decide

which type of data they belongs to:

. The occurrence of a chronic disease: yes or not

. Blood pressure(unit: kappa):12,11,9,10,11,12
. Patients recover results: reveal, better, worse,died
. Patients recover results: effective or ineffective
. Blood pressure: normal or abnormal

The frequency table

establishment
Example
Steps
Application

To compute the range of the whole individuals in the sample:

range=Xmax-Xmin

To decide the number of groups and the interval. The group

number is usually between 10 to 15.
interval=range/the group numbers

To distinct the groups(write the precise position of each

group): Lx U (U=L+interval)

To count the frequencies of each group

To list the whole frequency table. It should consist of five parts

as follows: group information, frequencies, relative frequency,
cumulative frequencies and percent outcome.

 To summarize

the data
the range, the maximum value, the minimum value,
the central position, the dispersed tendency, etc.

To present

the possible distribution of the sample

symmetrical distributionnormal distribution

non-symmetrical distributionskewed distribution

skewed distribution
Positive

skewed distribution

Negative

skewed distribution

There is 130 height values of 14 years old girls:

124.3 127 128 129 131.5 132 133 133.2 135 135.8 135 134
133 134.5 132 135 136 136 136 136.8 136.9 137 137.2 137
137.5 138 138.5 138.6 138.8 139 139.2 139.5 139.5 139.6
139 138 138 139 140 140 140 140 140.5 140.5 140.6 140.8
141 141 141 141.2 141.6 141.9 142 142 142.8 142.7 142.5
143 143 143 143 143.1 143.3 143.4 142 143 141.8 142.6 143
143.6 143 143 143.2 143.5 143.7 141 142 144 144.3 144 144
145 145.2 145.4 145 147 147 146 146 146.3 146.5 147 147.2
147.8 147.6 145 146 147.4 147 146 145 145.9 145.2 144 148
148 148.4 148.6 149 149.2 149.6 150 150 151 151 150.3 150
151 151.2 151.8 153 154.4 155 155.3 152.9 156.8 157 159
160 163.8

Populations and Samples

We want to know about these:

We have this to work with:

Random
Selection

Population

Parameter

(Population mean)

Sample

Inference

Statistic

(Sample mean)