title: Epidemiological methods: about time.
abstract: Epidemiological studies often produce false positive results due to use of statistical approaches that either ignore or distort time. The three time-related issues of focus in this discussion are: (1) cross-sectional vs. cohort studies, (2) statistical significance vs. public health significance, and (3), how risk factors "work together" to impact public health significance. The issue of time should be central to all thinking in epidemiology research, affecting sampling, measurement, design, analysis and, perhaps most important, the interpretation of results that might influence clinical and public-health decision-making and subsequent clinical research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 1116 Forest Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301, USA. hckhome@pacbell.net
authors.forename: Helena Chmura
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kraemer
mesh_terms: D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic