Litigation

Epidemiology for Semi-Dummies

By Evan Schaeffer

Products-liability lawyers who work on pharmaceutical cases, as I do from time to time, need to be have a working knowledge of the science of epidemiology.

A few years ago, I surveyed the variety of basic-to-intermediate epidemiology texts and selected Epidemiology in Medicine over a number of others.

Despite the title of the post, the book is no for-dummies tome. Written by Charles H. Hennekens and Julie E. Buring, Epidemiology in Medicine contains clear explanations of basic principles but becomes more and more advanced as the book progresses. Chapter titles include "Basic Concepts," "Types of Epidemiologic Studies," and "Analysis of Epidemiologic Studies," with emphases on "the role of chance," "the role of bias," and "the role of confounding."

For lawyers who need to understand epidemiological studies and depose experts about them, this book might be all they need. It's my solution, in any case. If you have another, please leave a comment.

Full post as published by The Illinois Trial Practice Blog on January 13, 2009 (boomark / email).