ST.

LIDETA HEALTH SCIENCE COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY

Statistics for pharmacy students

Abrham Tesfaye
abrhamtesfaye95@gmail.com
(BSc in Mid, MSc in RH and MSc in Epi & Bio)

June Addis Ababa.

2024 Ethiopia

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 Introduction
♠ Statistics: A field of study concerned with systematic
collection, organization, analysis, summarization and
interpretation of numerical data, & drawing of inferences
about a body of data when only a small part of the data is
observed
(According to Croxton and Cowden)

♠ Statistics may be applied to a number of fields that include

business, psychology, agriculture, health, etc..

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 Biostatistics

 It is the application of statistical methods to medical,

biological and public health related problems.
 Medical statistics
 Bio is taken from the Greek word bios, meaning “life”.

 It is the use of statistics to biomedical and public

health data.
Has central role in medical investigations

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 Why we need to study Medical Statistics?

 Basic requirement of medical research.

 Update your medical knowledge.

 Data management and treatment.

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 Definition of Some Basic terms

Statistical data
 It refers to numerical descriptions of things.
 The raw material of statistics.
 Figures result from the process of counting or from taking a
measurement.

• For example:
◊ When a hospital administrator counts the number of patients
(counting).
◊ When a nurse weighs a patient (measurement)

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 Definition of Some Basic terms cont’d

Population Vs Sample
 Population:
◊The whole collection of individuals that one intends to study.
◊ Populations may be finite or infinite.

◊ Example: The weights of all the children enrolled in a certain

school.
 Sample:
◊ It is a part of a population.

◊ A representative part of the population.

◊ Example: The weights of only a fraction of these children.

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 Stages in Statistical Investigation

 Statistical investigations test statements and theories that may turn

out to be true or false.

1) Defining the problem / pose a Question

2) Gathering relevant information= tools required

3) Presenting/organizing data= table, graph

4) Analyzing data=descriptive/ inferential

5) Interpreting results - if your Question is answered , its ok! If

not repeat the cycle
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 Types of Statistics

1) Descriptive Statistics
 A branch of statistics concerned with collection, organizing,
presentation and summarizing data
 Concerned with describing or characterizing the obtained
sample data.
 Ways of organizing and summarizing data.
 Organization of data
 Summarization of data
 Presentation of data
 Example: Tables, graphs, numerical summary measures

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 Types of Statistics cont’d

2) Inferential Statistics
 Branch of modern statistics that is most relevant to PH and clinical medicine.
 Methods used for drawing conclusions about a population based on the
information obtained from a sample of observations drawn from that
population.
 Generalizing from samples to populations using probabilities,
 Performing hypothesis testing,
 Determining relationships between variables,
 Making predictions
 It is builds up on descriptive statistics
 Inference are drawn from particular properties of sample to particular
properties of Population

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 Variables
 It is a characteristic that takes on different values in different
persons, or things.
 Characteristic or attribute that can assume different values.

 For example:
◊ Heart rate
◊ The heights of adult males
◊ The weights of preschool children
◊ The ages of patients seen in a dental clinic.

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 Types of Variables
Quantitative Qualitative
 It can be measured in the usual  Many characteristics are not capable
sense. of being measured.
 Classified as Discrete and o Some of them can be ordered (called
Continuous variable ordinal) and some of them can’t be

For example: ordered (called nominal).

For example:
 The heights of adult males,
 The weights of preschool children  Classification of people into
 The ages of patients socio-economic groups, Blood group

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 Variable

ypes Qualitative
of Quantitative Or
or Categorical Numeric
v ables

Nominal Ordinal Discrete (count Continuous

(not ordered) (ordered) data) (real-valued)
E.g. Ethnic E.g. Stage of E.g. # of admissions E.g. Height,Wight
group, Sex Cancer, Level of
pain

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25-Feb-22
 Discrete Vs Continuous variable

1) Discrete Variable
 Variables which assume a finite or countable number of possible
values.
 Usually obtained by counting
 The values of a discrete variable are usually whole numbers,
take only a finite or countable (set of integers) number of
values.
 These can’t be in fraction.
E.g. Class size, the number of episodes of diarrhoea in year,
number of beds

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 Discrete Vs Continuous variable

2) Continuous Variable

 Variables which assume an infinite number of possible values.

 Usually obtained by measurement.
 Is a measurement on a continuous scale that are infinitely
divisible
 i.e. fractional values are possible.
For example: Age, Weight, Weight, Cholesterol level, Time,
Temperature

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 Applications and uses of statistics

Provide a way of organizing information

Assessment of health status

Resource allocation

Health program evaluation

Magnitude of association
◊ Strong Vs weak association between exposure and outcome

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 Applications and uses of statistics

Assessing risk factors

o Cause & effect relationship

Evaluation of a new vaccine or drug

o What can be concluded if the proportion of people free from the disease
is greater among the vaccinated than the unvaccinated?
o How effective is the vaccine (drug)?

Drawing of inferences
o Information from sample to population
Education and research

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 Limitations of Statistics

 It deals with only those subjects of inquiry that are capable of

being quantitatively measured and numerically expressed.

 It deals on aggregates of facts and no importance is attached to

individual items - only if group characteristics are desired to be
studied.

 Statistical data are only approximately and not mathematically

correct.

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 Scales of Measurement

 Measurement: the assignment of numbers to objects or

events according to a set of rules.

 All data may be measured according to four measurement

scales.

 Health workers should be aware of these four levels of

measurements since the type of measurement scale determines
the type of statistical analysis to be used.

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 Scales of Measurement

 According to the degree of precision involved there

are four types of scales of measurement.
1) Nominal scale
2) Ordinal scale
3) Interval scale
4) Ratio scale

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 #1) Nominal scale
 Nominal data represent categories or names.
 Classifies data in to mutually exclusive categories in which
(Each item must fit into exactly one category)
 No order or rank can be imposed on the data
 In these types of data, individuals are simply placed in the
proper category or group, & the number in each category is
counted
 No mathematical computations can be made at this level

 E.g. Sex (Female, male), Exam result (Pass, Fail), Blood Group (A,B, O
or AB),

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 #2) Ordinal scale
 Ordinal scale also represent categories but have order or rank
among the response classifications (categories)
 Spaces or intervals b/n the categories are not necessarily equal
 Ordinal measurements tell you the direction of difference between
two individuals
 Differences between data entries are not meaningful.
Example:
o Pain level (Mild, Moderate, Severe),
o Response to treatment (poor, fair, good)
o Severity of disease (mild, moderate, severe)
o Income status (low, middle, high)

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 #3) Interval scale
 Data at the interval level of measurement are truly quantitative.
 Have no true zero value: Zero point on the interval scale is
arbitrary zero, it does not means the complete absence of
anything
 The zero point on the scale does not represent the absence of the
quantity being measured (The zero point does not have a natural
meaning).
Example:
o Temperature scale in Celsius,
o Temperature scale in Fahrenheit,
But when expressed on the kelvin scale, a measure of 0K
equivalent to - 273°C does indeed mean no temperature!
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 #4) Ratio scale
 Ratio scale data is purely quantitative.
 This scale has a unique or fixed beginning or true zero point.
(complete absence of the phenomenon being measured).
 Data at the ratio level of measurement are similar to the interval
level, but a zero entry is meaningful.
 It is the highest level of measurement
Examples:
o Age, Height, Weight, Temperature in Kelvin (zero is the
absence of heat).

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 Degree of Precision increases upwards

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 Exercise
 Categorize the following in to four measurement scale?
 Color of Eyes,
 IQ,
 Marital status,
 Severity of pain,
 Hospital length of stay,
 Cancer stages,
 Race,
 Level of satisfaction,
 Altitude,
 WHO HIV/AIDS Stages (I – IV),
 Religion

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 Ratio
 A Ratio is an expression used to show the relationship between
the numbers of affected persons relative to the number of
unaffected persons in the same population.

Expressed as: X/Y

Examples:
o A school has 400 male and 200 female students. The ratio of
male to female is:
400/200=2/1=2

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 Proportion
 Proportion is a type of ratio in which the numerator is included
in the denominator, and the resultant value is expressed as a
percentage.

Expressed as: X/X+Y *100

Examples:
oProportion of male and female for a school with 400 male
and 200 female students.
Male (%) = 400/600 = 66.6%
Female (%) = 200/600= 33.3%

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 Rate
 Rate is a special form of proportion, with an added time
dimension.
 It measures the occurrence of an event in a population over time.
The basic formula for a rate is as follows:

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 Example:
 500 persons are lived in a small village around Ambo city. The
report from a health centre showed that 56 gastroenteritis over 6
period of time
 Calculate the rate of gastroenteritis over 6 period of time?
Ans = 11.2%

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 Difference between ratio, proportion and rates

 They are completely different.

 When we call a measure a ratio, we usually mean a non-proportional
ratio;

 when we call a measure a proportion, we usually mean a

proportional ratio that doesn’t measure an event over time, and

 when we use the term rate, we frequently refer to a proportional ratio

that does measure an event in a population over time.

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 Exercise!!
 A town X has a total number of 1400 population and from them
600 were female and 800 were male. A near by health centre in
the town revealed that there was 80 case of pneumonia over 3
month.
1) Calculate the ratio of male to female?
2) Calculate the ratio of female to male?
3) Calculate the proportion of male?
4) Calculte the proportion of female?
5) Calculate the rate of pneumonia over 3 month?

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 Data collection and presentation
Next class: technique

Any question please !!!

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