Dr Yinka Adeniran

The Role of Statistics in Medicine

At the end of this class, students should be able to

define statistics Describe the two major types of statistics Discuss the importance of statistics in

medicine

Learning Objectives

Statistics in the science of collecting, summarizing, presenting and interpreting data, and using them to estimate the

magnitude of associations and test hypotheses

What is Statistics?

1. Collection of data

2. Organization of data

3. Presentation of data

4. Summarization of data

5. Significance testing

6. Drawing inferences and Interpreting data

7. Finally, Communicating data

Components that capture the essence of statistics are listed below

1. Descriptive statistics [include collection, organization, presentation and summarization of data.]

2. Inferential statistics [is concerned with procedures used to draw inferences and conclusions about a large body of data (called population) from a smaller set of data (called sample)]

The 2 Broad Classification of Statistics

1. For Evidence-Based Medicine Which underscores examination of evidence from clinical research, systematic collection & synthesis of evidence in medicine

2. In establishing causality/risk factors of diseases & health events

Importance of Statistics in Medicine

3. Helps in Disease prevention & control

4. To aid identification of clinical syndrome

Importance Cont’d

DISCUSSOthers Uses