Epid Social Epidemiology: Design and Interpretation

Transcription

1 1 Epid Social Epidemiology: Design and Interpretation Instructor: Whitney R. Robinson, Ph.D Department of Epidemiology UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health 2104B McGavran-Greenberg Hall campus mail address: Epidemiology, CB#7435 Usual Time and Place: Thursday 2:00 3:50 pm Room: McGG 2302 Course overview: The seminar-style course will identify methodological challenges common in social epidemiology. Next, the course will introduce and critique study designs and analytic techniques commonly used to address these challenges. In addition, this semester will include a special emphasis on deconstructing recent important research, such as documentation of decreasing life expectancy in the U.S., income inequality and declining economic mobility, and modeling racial/ethnic differences (or lack thereof) in police use of force in encounters with civilians. Learning objectives: To identify how the field of epidemiology researches the social determinants of health differently than other disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, or health policy To identify the methodological challenges that are addressed by different study designs and analyses used in social epidemiology To apply methods from the field of social epidemiology to research questions of interest to the student COURSE STRUCTURE: Most sessions will consist of short lectures from respected interdisciplinary researchers, followed by structured discussions of selected scientific publications relevant to the lecture. Readings will be available on Sakai or PubMed. To facilitate high-quality discussions, all assigned readings should be completed prior to class. Come to class ready to evaluate the quality of readings and explain in what situations a technique or concept would apply to research questions of interest to you. Course Requirements & Grading Criteria % of Grade Due Date Class participation 30% Presentation 1: research question & challenge 30% Presentation 2: Two approaches for addressing challenge 40% Course evaluations (online) last 3 weeks of class Students will be provided with at least 15 minutes of class time to complete the evaluation on the last day class is scheduled to meet. Assignment formatting for papers and presentation: Presentation slides should be saved using this standardized file name format: YY_MM_DD_Epid827_last-name_assignment (e.g., 17_03_08_Epid827_Robinson_presentation1.ppt). Submitting assignments:

2 2 * Submit assignments (e.g., presentation slides) electronically via Sakai. Sakai will not accept assignments after the posted deadline. * In fairness to those who meet the deadlines, late assignments may be penalized 10% per day. * If you are unable to submit an assignment by the deadline, please me as soon as possible, preferably at least 36 hours ahead of time. Honor code: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has had a student-administered honor system and judicial system for over 100 years. The system is the responsibility of students and is regulated and governed by them, but faculty share the responsibility. If you have questions about your responsibility under the honor code, please bring them to your instructor or consult with the office of the Dean of Students or the Instrument of Student Judicial Governance. This document (the Instrument), adopted by the Chancellor, the Faculty Council, and the Student Congress, contains all policies and procedures pertaining to the student honor system. Your full participation and observance of the honor code is expected. Required readings: listed in table below Optional readings: 1) Methods in Social Epidemiology, eds. J. Michael Oakes and Jay S. Kaufman San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN-13: ) Microeconometrics Using Stata. A. Colin Cameron and Pravin K. Trivedi College Station, TX: StateCorp LP. ISBN-13: Date Topic Speaker TOPIC: What is social epidemiology for? Jan 12 Jan 19 Introduction to course Discuss progressive class project mid-semester presentation & final presentation Discuss preferred topics for 4 class sessions Discuss readings What kind of cause are you looking for? Intra-population versus inter-population variation Whitney Robinson, PhD Asst prof, UNC Epidemiology Whitney Robinson, PhD Asst prof, UNC Epidemiology Jan 26 Feb 2 Introduction to publically available online data resources AKA Big Data in Social Epidemiology Qualitative research Rebecca (Becky) Tippett, PhD Carolina Population Center Louie Rivers III, PhD NCSU Dept of Forestry and Environmental

3 3 Feb 9 Spatial Analysis Resources Veronica Escamilla, PhD Carolina Population Center Feb 16 Studying health effects of neighborhoods Sandra Albrecht, PhD Asst Prof, UNC Nutrition Feb 23 Study Design and Analysis for Racial Inequalities Research Whitney Robinson, PhD Asst prof, UNC Epidemiology Mar 2 U.S. Income Inequality: new measures and new findings Ted Mouw, PhD UNC Sociology Class presentations 1: Mar 9 Present a research question of interest & the biggest methodologic challenge or limitation of previous students research (e.g., measurement bias, confounding, selection bias, positivity, generalizability) March 16 Spring break No class Mar 23 Case study of instrumental variable analysis in an international setting Asia Maselko, PhD Assoc Prof, UNC Epidemiology Mar 30 Apr 6 Apr 13 Apr 20 April 27 Class presentations 2: Evaluate two attractive approaches for addressing the methodologic challenge discussed in presentation 2, finally choosing one and justifying that decision students

4 4 AFTER CLASS VOTE, PLANNED TOPICS FOR sessions: 1) Declining US life expectancy rates and increasing mortality rates 2) Epidemiologic approaches to evaluating health effects of policy: difference-indifference analysis or regression discontinuity analysis 3) Weighting, sampling and selection bias in social epidemiology a) Case study: Impacts of different weighting strategies in the election polling b) Case study: Hysterectomy s impact on Stroke risk in the CARDIA study c) In-class exercise to deconstruct a selection-bias DAG 4) Statisical Discrimination/Unintended Consequences of well-intentioned policy: a. HPV vaccine targets most prevalence HPV subtypes, which may be those least common among racial minorities b. using of credit reports to exclude candidates: differential effects on Black and White men in the U.S.

5 5 READINGS (Tentative reading list in GRAY) Jan 12 What is Social Epidemiology? Speaker: Whitney Robinson, PhD Kawachi I Social epidemiology. Social Science & Medicine;54: Glymour MM, Osypuk TL, Rehkopf DH Invited Commentary: Off-Roading with Social Epidemiology Exploration, Causation, Translation. American Journal of Epidemiology; 178(6): Chapter 1: Introduction: Advancing Methods in Social Epidemiology. J. Michael Oakes and Jay S. Kaufman. in Methods in Social Epidemiology, eds. J. Michael Oakes and Jay S. Kaufman Jan 19 What kind of cause are you looking for? Intra-population versus interpopulation variation Speaker: Whitney Robinson, PhD Rose G. Sick individuals and sick populations. Int J Epidemiol 2001;30: Chapter 3 Indicators of Socioeconomic position in Methods in Social Epidemiology, eds. J. Michael Oakes and Jay S. Kaufman xtreg command, Panel-data summary Within Estimator, Between Estimator. Sections , p , Sections (p ). In Microeconometrics Using Stata. Colin Cameron and Pravin K. Trivedi College Station, TX: StateCorp LP. ISBN-13: Jan 26 Introduction to publicly available online data resources AKA Big Data in Social Epidemiology Speaker: Rebecca Tippett, PhD Checking out the following resources beforehand will help you get up to speed: IPUMS - specifically IPUMS-USA, but also IPUMS-CPS Social Explorer - Census Population Estimates - Feb 2 - Qualitative Methods Speaker: Louie Rivers III, PhD NSF proposal and 2 figures: IBSS: Participatory Ensemble Modeling to Study the Multiscale Social and Behavioral Dynamics of Food Security in Dryland West Africa Paper, in press: Climate-induced migration: using mental models to explore aggregate and individual decision making. Rivers L, Whitley CT, Bryant S, Marquart-Pyatt ST, Ligmann-Zielinska A, Olabisi LS, Du J. Feb 9 Spatial Analysis Speaker: Veronica Escamilla, PhD

6 6 Distance From Household to Clinic and Its Association With the Uptake of Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission Regiments in Rural Zambia. Escamilla V, et al. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2015; 70:e94-e101 Does Core Area Theory Apply to STIs in Rural Environments? Gesink DC, Sullivan AB, Norwood T, Serre ML, Miller WC. Sex Trans Dis 2013, 40(1): Feb 16 Studying Health Effects of Neighborhoods Speaker: Sandra Albrecht, PhD Merlo J, Chaix B, Yang M, Lynch J, Rastam L A brief conceptual tutorial on multilevel analysis in social epidemiology: interpreting neighborhood differences and the effect of neighborhood characteristics on individual health. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 59: A. Colin Cameron and Pravin K. Trivedi : Mixed Linear Models and 9.6: Clustered Data. pp In: Microeconometrics Using Stata. College Station, TX: StateCorp LP. Albright JJ, Marinova DM Estimating multilevel models using SPSS, Stata, SAS and R. Section 5, Stata, p Feb 23 Study Design and Analysis For Racial Inequalities Research Speaker: Whitney Robinson, PhD VanderWeele TJ, Robinson WR. On the causal interpretation of race in regressions adjusting for confounding and mediating variables. Epidemiology. 2014; 25(4): Harper S, et al. An overview of methods for monitoring social disparities in cancer with an example using trends in lung cancer incidence by area socioeconomic position and race-ethnicity, American Journal of Epidemiology. 2008; 167 (8): Messer LC. Invited commentary: Measuring social disparities in health what was the question again? American Journal of Epidemiology. 2008; 167 (8): Harper et al. Responds to Measuring social disparities in health. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2008; 167 (8): Mar 2 U.S. Income Inequality: new measures and new findings Speaker: Ted Mouw, PhD Mar 9 Class presentations FUTURE READINGS