Course EPIB-634 2006/2007
SURVIVAL ANALYSIS (and related topics)

Instructor:  Dr. James Hanley
Tel:  (514) 398-6270     e-mail:  james.hanley@mcgill.ca

DRAFT, Nov 19, 2006: More details will be posted on http://www.epi.mcgill.ca/hanley/c634 as they become available. If website is locked, please e-mail instructor for username and password.

Overview / Content / Format

This 1-credit course is a supplement/companion to the 4-credit course EPIB-621 (Data Analysis in the Health Sciences, which will cover regression techniques for continuous and dichotomous outcomes).

EPIB-634 will cover classical (non-regression) and regression methods for estimating and comparing (a) event rates, based on known person-time denominators; (b) hazard functions and cumulative incidence, in the context of lifetables and medical follow-up studies; and (c) event rates, based on samples of the person-time denominators, as in 'case-control' studies. The connections among these will be emphasized.

The course will be given as a set of nine classroom lectures.

When/Where

13:00-14:30 on (nine) Fridays: January 5 and 12; February 2 and 9; March 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30. Purvis Hall, Room 25.

Prerequisites

EPIB-606 and EPIB-607 (or their equivalents): pre- or co-requisite: EPIB-621 or equivalent.

The calculations for the 'classical' analyses can be performed manually, or via a spreadsheet program or statistical software such as R, SAS, Stata or SPSS. Students will need to be familiar with one of these statistical packages in order to perform the regression analyses [contrary to any impressions conveyed by the earlier title for this course, this is not a 'computer lab' course].

Texts

See course website: http://www.epi.mcgill.ca/hanley/c634/

Assessment

Assessment will be based on weekly homework assignments.

McGill University Senate resolution of January 29, 2003 on academic integrity

McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information).

L'université McGill attache une haute importance à l’honnêteté académique. Il incombe par conséquent à tous les étudiants de comprendre ce que l'on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions académiques, ainsi que les conséquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l'étudiant et des procédures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity).