Continuing controversies over "risks and rates" - More than a century after William Farr's "On prognosis"

Sozial- und Praventivmedizin

Volumn 48, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 216-218

  Vandenbroucke, Jan P ^a  

^a LEIDEN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BIOSTATISTICS; CALCULATION; CASE CONTROL STUDY; CIGARETTE SMOKING; EDITORIAL; EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA; FOLLOW UP; HOSPITAL ADMISSION; HOSPITAL INFECTION; HUMAN; INCIDENCE; LUNG CANCER; MORTALITY; PROBABILITY; PROGNOSIS; RISK ASSESSMENT; UNITED KINGDOM; UNITED STATES;

ENGLAND; EPIDEMIOLOGIC METHODS; EPIDEMIOLOGY; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HUMANS; INCIDENCE; MORTALITY; PROGNOSIS; RISK;

EID: 84964311290     PISSN: 03038408     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00038-003-3073-8     Document Type: Editorial

References (18)

1. Doll R, Hill AB (1956). Lung cancer and other causes of death in relation to smoking: a second report on the mortality of British doctors. BMJ 2: 1071-81.
2. Elandt-Johnson RC (1975). Definition of rates: some remarks on their use and misuse. Am J Epidemiol 102: 267-71.
3. Freeman J, McGowan JE Jr (1978). Risk factors for nosocomial infection. J Infect Dis 138: 811-19.
4. Gaynes RP, Martone WJ, Culver DH, et al. (1991). Comparison of rates of nosocomial infections in neonatal intensive care units in the United States. National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System. Am J Med 91: 192S-6S.
5. Gerstman BB (2003). Comments regarding On Prognosis by William Farr (1838), with reconstruction of his longitudinal analysis of smallpox recovery and death rates. Soz Praventiv Med 48 (5): in press. Greenland S, ed. (1987). Evolution of epidemiologic ideas: annotated readings on concepts and methods. Chestnut Hill, MA: Epidemiology Resources Inc.: 180.
6. Greenland S, ed. (1987). Evolution of epidemiologic ideas: annotated readings on concepts and methods. Chestnut Hill, MA: Epidemiology Resources Inc.: 180.
7. Haley RW, Hooton TM, Culver DH et al. (1981). Nosocomial infections in U.S. hospitals, 1975-1976: estimated frequency by selected characteristics of patients. Am J Med 70: 947-59.
8. Hill AB (1937). Principles of medical statistics. London: The Lancet. (Postgraduate series; vol. 3).
9. Hill AB (1984). A short textbook on medical statistics. 11th ed. London: Hodder & Staughton.
10. Iezzoni LI (1996). 100 apples divided by 15 red herrings: a cautionary tale from the mid-19th century on comparing hospital mortality rates. Ann Intern Med 124: 1079-85.
11. MacMahon B, Pugh TF, Ipsen J (1960). Epidemiologic methods. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co.: table 33.
12. Miettinen OS (1976). Estimability and estimation in case-control studies. Am J Epidemiol 103: 226-35.
13. Rothman KJ, Greenland S (1998). Modern Epidemiology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven: 29-46.
14. Vandenbroucke JP (1985). On the rediscovery of a distinction. Am J Epidemiol 121: 627-8.
15. Vandenbroucke JP, Vandenbroucke-Grauls CMJE (1988). A note on the history of the calculation of hospital statistics. Am J Epidemiol 127: 699-702.
16. Vandenbroucke JP, Vandenbroucke-Grauls CMJE (1996). In defense of Farr and Nightingale. Ann Intern Med 125: 1014.
17. Vandenbroucke JP, Vandenbroucke-Grauls CMJE (1997). A return to Farr and Nightingale. Ann Intern Med 127: 170-1.
18. Windeler J, Lange S (1995). Events per person year - a dubious concept. BMJ 310: 454-6. (http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/310/6977/454). (accessed May 2003).