(Ebook) Statistics for Clinicians by Andrew Owen ISBN 9783031309038, 3031309030

(Ebook) Statistics for Clinicians by Andrew Owen ISBN 9783031309038, 3031309030

The goal of the book is to provide a nontechnical account of statistical methodscommonly used in the medical literature. Basic introductions to statistics typicallycover topics such as the Normal distribution, the t-test and the Chi-Square test, butnot more complicated methods commonly used in the medical literature such asvarious forms of regression, e.g., logistic and Cox survival or noninferiority trials.Here such methods are discussed in a nontechnical way that allows the nonspecialistto understand how and when they are used. In particular, to appreciate when theresults claimed are not justified by the analysis presented. No statistical knowledgeis assumed, although it is assumed that readers will have studied mathematics toage 16. Basic mathematical principles are provided in an appendix which providesa summary of basic school level mathematics relevant to this book.An important feature of this book is the use of examples from the literature. Thus,after a statistical technique has been described, an example from the literature isreviewed to exemplify how the technique is used in practice. It is recommended thatthe paper in question is downloaded to be read in conjunction with the text in thebook. To facilitate this, the examples chosen are from journals that do not require asubscription to access papers.In addition to an appreciation of the literature, an understanding of statisticalprinciples is necessary to inform the choice of a diagnostic test and interpret theresult. A chapter is devoted to this topic, which includes how the methods describedcan be applied to the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism and the evaluation ofpatients with stable chest pain suspected to be due to obstructive coronary arterydisease.