Modern methods of statistical analysis of medical data

The begun century seems to be an age of evidence based medicine. It means that biostatistics methods will play an increasing role in the field. This monograph covers both parametric and non-parametric methods of analysis. They are descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and relations, multiple regression analysis as well as factor, discriminant, cluster and log-linear analyses. The treated methods are given in a short, visual and effective way using software package Statistica. The book describes how this package could help to solve medical tasks, in particular to simplify them and reduce task completion time. The author strictly but rather clearly describes the principles of each method, giving its application scheme and indicating possible limitations and errors. Moreover the book is well illustrated with pictures and screenshots being extremely helpful in acquiring skills to use theoretical knowledge in practice. The monograph is intended primarily for medical students and health care professionals who are more interested in applying statistical methods than their strict mathematical justification. It will be useful also for practising physicians and researchers to critically evaluate the medical literature and planning, conducting and analyzing the results of research. The monograph may serve as an introductory course for those who want to study biostatistics more profoundly. This book will give them an opportunity to seize a clear understanding of biostatistics, its methods and the place occupied in medical education and work of the practising physicians.