Statistical Methods for Biomedical Research

This book consists of four parts with 32 chapters adapted for four short courses, from the basic to the advanced levels of medical statistics (biostatistics), ideal for biomedical students . Part 1 is a compulsory course of Basic Statistics with descriptive statistics, parameter estimation and hypothesis test, simple correlation and regression. Part 2 is a selective course on Study Design and Implementation with sampling survey, interventional study, observational study, diagnosis study, data sorting and article writing. Part 3 is a specially curated course of Multivariate Analyses with complex analyses of variance, variety of regressions and classical multivariate analyses. Part 4 is a seminar course on Introduction to Advanced Statistical Methods with meta-analysis, time series, item response theory, structure equation model, multi-level model, bio-informatics, genetic statistics and data mining.

The main body of each chapter is followed by five practical sections: Report Writing, Case Discrimination, Computer Experiments, Frequently Asked Questions and Summary, and Practice & Think. Moreover, there are 2 attached Appendices, Appendix A includes Introductions to SPSS, Excel and R respectively, and Appendix B includes all the programs, data and printouts for Computer Experiments in addition to the Tests for Review and the reference answers for Case Discrimination as well as Practice & Think.

This book can be used as a textbook for biomedical students at both under- and postgraduate levels. It can also serve as an importantguide for researchers, professionals and officers in the biomedical field.

Readership: Biostatisticians, applied statisticians, medical researchers and clinicians, bioscience students, biopharmaceutical researchers, public health epidemiologists; biometricians & applied mathematicians.

Ji-Qian Fang was honorably awarded as a National Teaching Master of China by the Central Government of China in 2009 due to his outstanding achievement in university education. Professor Fang received his BS in Mathematics from Fudan University, China in 1961, and his PhD in Biostatistics from the University of California at Berkeley, US in 1985. He served the position of Professor and Director of the Department of Biomathematics and Biostatistics at Beijing Medical University during 1985–1991; and since 1991, he has been the Professor and Director of the Department of Medical Statistics at Sun Yat-Sen Medical University (now Sun Yat-Sen University). He also was an Adjunct professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1993 to 2009.

His research interests include the statistical methods for research on chronic diseases, stochastic models for life phenomena, measurement of quality of life and actuarial studies for health service. Professor Fang has completed 19 National and International research projects, and has received 14 awards for progression in research from the Central and Provincial Governments of China.

He is the Chief Editor of national recommended textbooks and monographs, including Advanced Mathematics, Mathematical Statistics for Medicine, Health Statistics, Statistical Methods for Biomedical research, Medical Statistics and Computer Experiments, Advanced Medical Statistics and Handbook of Medical Statistics. The course of Medical Statistics led by Professor Fang has been recognized as the National Recommended Course in 2008 and the National Demonstration Bi-lingual Course in 2010.

Professor Fang is the founder of Group China of the International Biometric Society, and the founder of Committee of Medical Statistics Education of the Chinese Association of Health Informatics.