Educational Objective
      Students should be able to explain what biostatistics is, 
      and the role it plays in medicine.
      Students should be able to explain the relationships 
      between biostatistics, epidemiology, and evidence-based 
      medicine.
      Students should be able to explain how statistical tools 
      are used to describe patients, or to provide credible 
      evidence for the physician’s use when making Diagnosis 
      (Dx), Therapy (Tx), or Prognosis (Px) decisions and 
      recommendations to patients.
         What is Biostatistics?
      “Biostatistics is the application of statistical methods to 
        medical and biological phenomenon” (Murad & Shi, 2010, p 
        3)
      Biostatistics is a tool that is used to analyze, understand, and 
        explain the variance in medical and epidemiological data 
        (Jekel et al., 2007). 
         Descriptive statistics are tools which provide information that 
           describes the patient, often in terms of demographic 
           characteristics or disease status.
         Inferential statistics are tools which allow the analysis and 
           interpretation of a sample of data that represents a given 
           population.
              Biostatistics is a 
             Foundational Tool
      Epidemiology (the study of disease) is the foundation of 
       evidence for Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM). 
      Biostatistics is the tool that is used to analyze and 
       understand epidemiological data.
     Epidemiology (POD)   Evidence-Based Medicine (CDM)
                    Biostatistics
          Common 
    Epidemiological Data
   A proportion is a type of fraction in which the 
   numerator is a subset of the denominator.
   A rate is a fraction that also contains a time 
   component. 
   A ratio expresses the relationship between two 
   numeric quantities.