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This book is intended to provide a basic introduction to epidemiologic methods and epidemiologic thinking. After reading this book, you should be able to read an epidemiologic study, understand what the authors did and why, and identify what they found. You will also have the tools to assess the quality of that study—how good is the evidence? What are potential sources of bias, and how might those have affected the results? This book will not teach you enough to be able to design and conduct your own epidemiologic studies—that level of understanding requires several years of specialized training. However, being able to read and understand the scientific literature about human health will allow you to apply that understanding to your own work in a nuanced, sophisticated way.

It will also allow you to be a confident consumer of the news — how many times have you seen a headline about some new, health-related study and wondered if it could possibly be “real”? Now you will be able to assess for yourself whether the touted new study should change your behavior or not. For instance, for many years, we were told that low levels of alcohol consumption, particularly of red wine, were beneficial.ⁱⁱ Then during the summer of 2018, the WHO released a statement saying that no, all alcohol consumption is harmful.ⁱⁱⁱ What should you do? Is a glass of wine a day a good idea or not? This book will provide to tools necessary for you to be able to assess the epidemiologic evidence and decide for yourself.

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