Abstract
Last (1) defines epidemiology as “the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to control of health problems.” In the context of cancer, a more simplistic definition is that epidemiology attempts to answer the question of who develops cancer and why. If cancer is not random, at least at the population level, then there must be determinants of the observed patterns of cancer. This chapter will introduce the reader to the basic methods of epidemiology used to describe patterns of cancer and to test hypotheses about the causes of cancer.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Cancer Risk Assessment |
| Publisher | CRC Press |
| Pages | 149-179 |
| Number of pages | 31 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780849398544 |
| ISBN (Print) | 0824729846, 9780824729844 |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2005 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics
- General Medicine