39651 - Medical Statistic

Academic Year 2025/2026

  • Docente: Elena Nardi
  • Credits: 2
  • SSD: MED/01
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Orthopaedics Techniques (cod. 5915)

Learning outcomes

Introduction to Epidemiology: prevalence, incidence, risk and odds. Diagnostic tests: sensitivity, specificity, predictive values. Descriptive statistics: numerical and graphical methods for organizing and summarizing data . Measures of central tendency and dispersion. Frequency distribution. The Gaussian distribution. Excel practical exercises are provided.

Course contents

Overview of epidemiology: prevalence, incidence, risks, and odds.
Diagnostic tests: sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values.
Explanation and in-depth discussion of different types of data.
Observational and experimental studies; measures of study effectiveness, with particular focus on the concepts of Relative Risk and Odds Ratio.
Frequency distributions: absolute, relative, and cumulative.
Data visualization.
Measures of central tendency and variability: mean, median, mode, standard deviation, percentiles.
The Normal distribution.
Introduction to estimation theory and confidence intervals.
Hypothesis testing: Chi-square test and Student’s t-test.
Introduction to non-parametric tests.

Some concepts presented in the theoretical lessons are further explored and illustrated through practical exercises using Excel.

Readings/Bibliography

MM.Triola, MF Triola Fondamenti di statistica per le discipline biomediche, Editrice Pearson
M.Bland Statistica Medica, Editrice Apogeo
S.Glantz Statistica per Discipline Biomediche, Editrice McGrawHill

Teaching methods

Lectures

Assessment methods

The final exam consists of a written exam comprising 16 multiple-choice questions (4 options per question, with only 1 correct answer) covering the topics discussed during the course. Each correct answer is worth 2 points; omitted or incorrect answers receive 0 points. The exam is considered passed with at least 9 correct answers.

Students with learning disabilities or temporary/permanent impairments are encouraged to contact the dedicated support service as early as possible:
🔗 https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Requests for reasonable accommodations must be submitted to the professor at least 15 days before the exam date, in order to assess their appropriateness in light of the course learning objectives.

Teaching tools

The teaching material will be available electronically on : https://virtuale.unibo.it/

Office hours

See the website of Elena Nardi