Suchmacher M., Geller M. Practical Biostatistics: A User-Friendly Approach for Evidence-Based Medicine

Elsevier Inc. 2012. — 220 p. ISBN: 0124157947.Evidence-based medicine aims to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to medical decision making. It is a practice that uses statistical analysis of scientific methods and outcomes to drive further experimentation and diagnosis.
Our increasing awareness of biological mechanisms that underlie disease has vastly increased the possibility of performing clinical trials, epidemiological studies, and tests of new approaches to diagnosis and treatment. This, in turn, raises a major need for the investigator to understand the statistical principles that underlie the design, execution, and data analysis related to clinical research studies. Dr. Suchmacher and Dr. Geller have provided a practical and highly approachable guide to biostatistics in their book Practical Biostatistics. The first section will guide the reader through the steps involved in clinical trial design, including design principles, sample size calculation, choosing the most appropriate test, and hypothesis testing. The presentation is both concise and highly pragmatic, and includes selfevaluation questions with annotated answers. The other sections cover a variety of biostatistical issues, such as association studies, benefit-risk analysis, evaluation of diagnostic tests, approaches to meta-analysis, and correlation and regression analysis. Although this book will not substitute for the need to collaborate with colleagues who have formal training in biostatistics, it will go a long way towards preparing the clinical investigator to design and carry out better studies. It will also prepare the investigator to work more productively with biostatistical experts. This book answers a real need in clinical research, and will be a welcome addition to the training armamentarium for clinical investigators.