Epidemiological research is ubiquitous. Even if you don’t realise it, you come across epidemiological studies and the impact of their findings every single day. You have probably heard that obesity is increasing in high income countries or that malaria is killing millions of people in low income countries. It is common knowledge that smoking causes cancer and that physical activity is protective against heart disease. These facts may seem obvious today, but it took decades of epidemiological research to produce the necessary evidence. In this course, you will learn the fundamental tools of epidemiology which are essential to conduct such studies, starting with the measures used to describe the frequency of a disease or health-related condition. You will also learn how to quantify the strength of an association and discuss the distinction between association and causation. In the second half of the course, you will use this knowledge to describe different strategies for prevention, identify strengths and weaknesses of diagnostic tests and consider when a screening programme is appropriate.
This course is part of the Epidemiology for Public Health Specialization
About this Course
A background in health sciences or/and quantitative methods would be useful, but not essential.
Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?
Try Coursera for BusinessWhat you will learn
Calculate and interpret appropriate measures in order to describe disease frequency, association and attributable risk for given scenarios.
Calculate sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, in order to interpret these values in the context of screening.
Skills you will gain
- incidence
- Epidemiology
- Prevalence
- association
A background in health sciences or/and quantitative methods would be useful, but not essential.
Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?
Try Coursera for BusinessOffered by
Start working towards your Master's degree
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Measures of disease frequency
Measures of association
Attributable risk and strategies for prevention
Disease detection and screening
Reviews
- 5 stars82.58%
- 4 stars12.79%
- 3 stars2.52%
- 2 stars0.29%
- 1 star1.78%
TOP REVIEWS FROM MEASURING DISEASE IN EPIDEMIOLOGY
This was a very very informative and I truly enjoyed every bit of it during this 4 weeks. I am saying thank you so much to the organizers of this wonderful course 100% thumbs up!
Really well structured, engaging and broken down into small and manageable chunks - great for learning on a busy schedule!
Thank you for the excellent course materials, quizzes, and discussions. They have been extremely useful in updating my knowledge. Please keep the good work going.
Great course that builds up concepts gradually and really respects your time. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a gentle introduction to some basic epidemiological concepts
About the Epidemiology for Public Health Specialization

Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
Is financial aid available?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.