Stephen J. Walters - Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences

1. Chapter 2
2. Chapter 3
3. Chapter 4
4. Chapter 5
5. Chapter 6
6. Chapter 7
7. Chapter 8
8. Chapter 9
9. Chapter 10
10. Chapter 11
11. Chapter 12
12. Chapter 13
13. Chapter 14
14. Chapter 15
15. Chapter 16
16. Chapter 17
17. Chapter 18
18. Chapter 19
19. Appendix

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 4
4. Chapter 5
5. Chapter 6
6. Chapter 7
7. Chapter 9
8. Chapter 10
9. Chapter 11
10. Chapter 12
11. Chapter 13
12. Chapter 14
13. Chapter 15
14. Chapter 16
15. Chapter 17
16. Chapter 18
17. Chapter 19

Fifth Edition

Stephen J. Walters

Medical Statistics Group
School of Health and Related Research
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, UK

Michael J. Campbell

Medical Statistics Group
School of Health and Related Research
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, UK

David Machin

Medical Statistics Group
School of Health and Related Research
University of Sheffield
Leicester Cancer Research Centre
University of Leicester
Leicester, UK

This edition first published 2021
2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Edition History
John Wiley & Sons Ltd (4e, 2007)

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The right of Stephen J. Walters, Michael J. Campbell, and David Machin to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Names: Campbell, Michael J., 1950- author. | Walters, Stephen John, author. | Machin, David, 1939 author.
Title: Medical statistics : a textbook for the health sciences / Stephen J. Walters, Michael J. Campbell, David Machin.
Description: Fifth edition. | Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell, 2021. | Michael J. Campbell's name appears first in earlier editions. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020029691 (print) | LCCN 2020029692 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119423645 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119423669 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119423652 (epub)
Subjects: MESH: Biometrymethods | Research Design | Statistics as Topic
Classification: LCC R853.S7 (print) | LCC R853.S7 (ebook) | NLM WA 950 | DDC 610.72/7dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029691
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029692

Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Images: Doctor taking patients blood pressure in examination room, Hero Images/Getty Images; Cardiogram of heart on paper, Shevchuk Boris/ Getty Images; Crowded Istiklal street in Istanbul, Todor Tsvetkov/Getty Images

It is more than 13 years since the last edition of Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences was published and it has proven to be popular. This preface outlines the major changes and updates made since that edition was published.

All the chapters have been revised and updated. With simpler statistical methods it is useful to be able to carry out an analysis for oneself, to help fully understand its usefulness and its limitations. However, with the advent of public domain software for the analysis of data, ever more complex statistical methods are available to the researcher. These advanced methods have been incorporated in many elementary medical statistics syllabuses. A student today needs to understand the application and limitations of these methods to be able to fully evaluate articles in many main stream medical journals. To this end we have introduced new chapters on diagnostic tests, linear modelling, logistic modelling and a further one covering briefly more advanced topics such as random effects modelling and Poisson regression. At all times the emphasis is on understanding why such techniques should be used, their limitations, and how the results of such analyses are to be displayed.

Since the last edition, medical statistics has faced a number of challenges. One of the main ones is the problem of replication. A study is published, with a significant Pvalue, but another study addressing the same research question fails to replicate this result. This can often cause consternation amongst among readers of research. We discuss this issue in .