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A Primer on Biostatistics
Chapter

A Primer on Biostatistics

Abstract

There are several measures of disease frequency that are used in the epidemiological and medical literature. A perfect diagnostic test would always identify patients as positive if they have the disease and would always be negative in patients without a disease. Descriptive statistics are used to summarise and describe distributions of data. While traditional methods use a test and/or a diagnostic tool to predict a disease state and/or outcome, as discussed at the beginning of this chapter, predictive analysis is becoming increasingly popular due to the emergence of sophisticated data science. When performing research, consulting with a biostatistician is paramount to ensure that the study is designed in a way that facilitates proper analysis. However, having knowledge of the concepts in biostatistics ensures that the clinical goals of the study meet the study design and the analytical plan.

Authors

Shih AW; Li N; Montemayor C; Heddle NM

Book title

Practical Transfusion Medicine

Pagination

pp. 590-608

Publisher

Wiley

Publication Date

July 27, 2022

DOI

10.1002/9781119665885.ch49
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