Epidemiology for Public Health Practice, 3rd edition, by Robert H. Friis and Thomas A. Sellers. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett; 2004. 616 pages, softcover, $59.95.

This third edition of Epidemiology for Public Health Practice is an instructive road map for the beginning epidemiologist. This well-written book is the academic handiwork of a pair of skilled intellectual artisans. The expanding frontiers of public health practice are likely bound closely to epidemiology. This book capably introduces the reader to the often difficult to understand scope of epidemiology.

The authors, Friis and Sellers, examine some of the linkages binding epidemiology to public health practice in the real world. They carefully describe the arsenal of epidemiologic tools, potentially at the disposal of the well-equipped, public health investigator. Without question, the contents should be of great practical interest to all those interested in epidemiology as an invaluable analytic and research tool for fathoming at least some of the aspects of public health practice.

The volume is designed as an introductory textbook of epidemiology; and it lives up to this goal. The contents plainly are not targeted at advanced practitioners, in the realm of epidemiology. However, the material is too specific to appeal readily to the lay reader. Some general familiarity with biostatistics would be helpful with respect to understanding the text.

The text contains 15 chapters and each has some learning objectives and a succinct outline, intended to focus readers' attention on key points at the beginning of respective chapters. Academically challenging study questions and exercises, attached to the end of the various chapters, should appeal to readers. In addition, many well-designed tables and figures materially embellish the textual strength, and the research-minded reader, particularly, may be gladdened by the numerous references. The volume's structure, overall, is quite conducive to whetting the intellectual appetites of those interested in absorbing epidemiologic-rooted knowledge and skills.

Various methods for studying the patterns of disease in order to establish associations between certain factors and health outcomes are clearly presented. For example, the authors describe several/numerous epidemiologic studies undertaken to show the relationship between obesity and diabetes, smoking and lung cancer, risk factors for coronary heart disease and CHD outcome. The prospective reader should be mindful, however, that the considerable array of subjects broached by the text are painted with a fairly broad brush. Moreover, the subjects touched upon are necessarily selective in nature. Particular topics falling within the critical view of Friis and Sellers broadly encompass psychosocial, genetic, molecular, and infectious-disease epidemiology; and the epidemiologic lineaments of occupational and environmental health. Skilled discussion also includes data sources, descriptive epidemiology, cohort studies, experimental study designs, disease screening, and data interpretation issues.

Although this well-written book successfully demystifies some of the complexities surrounding the study of epidemiology, it also makes clear that epidemiology is a complex area of intellectual endeavor. The volume should appeal to students, including public health, nursing, medical students, and those in other healthcare areas, being introduced to epidemiology.

Leo Uzych, JD, MPH

Healthcare Lawyer, Wallingford, PA