Author Description

Building on the success of the first and second editions, the updated third edition of the Handbook of Epidemiology serves as a major reference for all researchers who want to conduct epidemiological studies or who want to deepen their understanding of epidemiological concepts, methods, and areas of application. The new edition provides an update of all chapters of the second edition and includes additional new chapters to account for recent developments in the field. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the field and covers basic approaches as well as novel and advanced methodologies with a strong applied focus by integrating the most relevant state-of-the-art knowledge that otherwise could only be gathered from single specialist publications dispersed over various scientific journals. It reviews the key issues and methodological approaches pertinent to the field for which the reader pursues an expatiated overview. It may thus serve both as a firstorientation for the interested reader and as a starting point for an in-depth study of a specific area as well as a quick reference and a recapitulatory update for the expert. The broad scope of the book becomes apparent by its five sections that facilitate an integration of epidemiological concepts and methods, statistical tools, applications, and epidemiological practice: Part I covers Concepts and Designs in Epidemiology; Part II, Methodological Approaches in Epidemiology; Part III, Statistical Methods in Epidemiology; Part IV, Exposure-Oriented Epidemiology; and Part V, Outcome-Oriented Epidemiology. All chapters follow a similar structure and highlight cross-references to related topics and specialist knowledge to be found in the Handbook. They give an overview of the topic and the most important problems and approaches that are illustrated by examples. Each chapter serves as an introductory text that helps to enter a new field by addressing basic concepts without being too elem