Biostatistics
Encyclopedia
Biostatistics is the application of statistics
to a wide range of topics in biology
. The science of biostatistics encompasses the design of biological experiment
s, especially in medicine
and agriculture
; the collection, summarization, and analysis of data from those experiments; and the interpretation of, and inference from, the results.
work, the gaps in understanding between genetics
and evolutionary Darwinism
led to vigorous debate among biometricians, such as Walter Weldon
and Karl Pearson
, and Mendelians, such as Charles Davenport, William Bateson
and Wilhelm Johannsen
. By the 1930s, statisticians and models built on statistical reasoning had helped to resolve these differences and to produce the neo-Darwinian modern evolutionary synthesis
.
The leading figures in the establishment of this synthesis all relied on statistics and developed its use in biology.
These individuals and the work of other biostatisticians, mathematical biologists
, and statistically-inclined geneticists helped bring together evolutionary biology and genetics
into a consistent, coherent whole that could begin to be quantitative
ly modeled.
In parallel to this overall development, the pioneering work of D'Arcy Thompson in On Growth and Form also helped to add quantitative discipline to biological study.
Despite the fundamental importance and frequent necessity of statistical reasoning, there may nonetheless have been a tendency among biologists to distrust or deprecate results which are not qualitatively apparent. One anecdote describes Thomas Hunt Morgan
banning the Friden calculator
from his department at Caltech, saying "Well, I am like a guy who is prospecting for gold along the banks of the Sacramento River in 1849. With a little intelligence, I can reach down and pick up big nuggets of gold. And as long as I can do that, I'm not going to let any people in my department waste scarce resources in placer mining
." Educators are now adjusting their curricula to focus on more quantitative concepts and tools.
In the United States
, where several universities have dedicated biostatistics departments, many other top-tier universities integrate biostatistics faculty into statistics or other departments, such as epidemiology
. Thus, departments carrying the name "biostatistics" may exist under quite different structures. For instance, relatively new biostatistics departments have been founded with a focus on bioinformatics
and computational biology
, whereas older departments, typically affiliated with schools of public health
, will have more traditional lines of research involving epidemiological studies and clinical trial
s as well as bioinformatics. In larger universities where both a statistics and a biostatistics department exist, the degree of integration between the two departments may range from the bare minimum to very close collaboration. In general, the difference between a statistics program and a biostatistics program is twofold: (i) statistics departments will often host theoretical/methodological research which are less common in biostatistics programs and (ii) statistics departments have lines of research that may include biomedical applications but also other areas such as industry (quality control
), business and economics
and biological areas other than medicine.
Statistical methods are beginning to be integrated into medical informatics, public health informatics
, bioinformatics
and computational biology
.
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
to a wide range of topics in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. The science of biostatistics encompasses the design of biological experiment
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
s, especially in medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
; the collection, summarization, and analysis of data from those experiments; and the interpretation of, and inference from, the results.
Biostatistics and the history of biological thought
Biostatistical reasoning and modeling were of critical importance to the foundation theories of modern biology. In the early 1900s, after the rediscovery of Mendel'sGregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
work, the gaps in understanding between genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and evolutionary Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
led to vigorous debate among biometricians, such as Walter Weldon
Walter Frank Raphael Weldon
Walter Frank Raphael Weldon DSc FRS generally called Raphael Weldon, was an English evolutionary biologist and a founder of biometry...
and Karl Pearson
Karl Pearson
Karl Pearson FRS was an influential English mathematician who has been credited for establishing the disciplineof mathematical statistics....
, and Mendelians, such as Charles Davenport, William Bateson
William Bateson
William Bateson was an English geneticist and a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge...
and Wilhelm Johannsen
Wilhelm Johannsen
Wilhelm Johannsen was a Danish botanist, plant physiologist and geneticist. He was born in Copenhagen. While very young, he was apprenticed to a pharmacist and worked in Denmark and Germany beginning in 1872 until passing his pharmacist's exam in 1879...
. By the 1930s, statisticians and models built on statistical reasoning had helped to resolve these differences and to produce the neo-Darwinian modern evolutionary synthesis
Modern evolutionary synthesis
The modern evolutionary synthesis is a union of ideas from several biological specialties which provides a widely accepted account of evolution...
.
The leading figures in the establishment of this synthesis all relied on statistics and developed its use in biology.
- Sir Ronald A. FisherRonald FisherSir Ronald Aylmer Fisher FRS was an English statistician, evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and geneticist. Among other things, Fisher is well known for his contributions to statistics by creating Fisher's exact test and Fisher's equation...
developed several basic statistical methods in support of his work The Genetical Theory of Natural SelectionThe Genetical Theory of Natural SelectionThe Genetical Theory of Natural Selection is a book by R.A. Fisher first published in 1930 by Clarendon. It is one of the most important books of the modern evolutionary synthesis and is commonly cited in biology books.-Editions:... - Sewall G. Wright used statistics in the development of modern population geneticsPopulation geneticsPopulation genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...
- J. B. S Haldane'sJ. B. S. HaldaneJohn Burdon Sanderson Haldane FRS , known as Jack , was a British-born geneticist and evolutionary biologist. A staunch Marxist, he was critical of Britain's role in the Suez Crisis, and chose to leave Oxford and moved to India and became an Indian citizen...
book, The Causes of Evolution, reestablished natural selection as the premier mechanism of evolution by explaining it in terms of the mathematical consequences of Mendelian genetics.
These individuals and the work of other biostatisticians, mathematical biologists
Mathematical biology
Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in biology, medicine and biotechnology...
, and statistically-inclined geneticists helped bring together evolutionary biology and genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
into a consistent, coherent whole that could begin to be quantitative
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
ly modeled.
In parallel to this overall development, the pioneering work of D'Arcy Thompson in On Growth and Form also helped to add quantitative discipline to biological study.
Despite the fundamental importance and frequent necessity of statistical reasoning, there may nonetheless have been a tendency among biologists to distrust or deprecate results which are not qualitatively apparent. One anecdote describes Thomas Hunt Morgan
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Thomas Hunt Morgan was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and embryologist and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries relating the role the chromosome plays in heredity.Morgan received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in zoology...
banning the Friden calculator
Friden, Inc.
Friden Calculating Machine Company was an American manufacturer of typewriters and electronic calculators. It was founded by Carl Friden in San Leandro, California in 1934. Friden electromechanical calculators were robust and popular....
from his department at Caltech, saying "Well, I am like a guy who is prospecting for gold along the banks of the Sacramento River in 1849. With a little intelligence, I can reach down and pick up big nuggets of gold. And as long as I can do that, I'm not going to let any people in my department waste scarce resources in placer mining
Placer mining
Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....
." Educators are now adjusting their curricula to focus on more quantitative concepts and tools.
Education and training programs
Almost all educational programmes in biostatistics are at postgraduate level. They are most often found in schools of public health, affiliated with schools of medicine, forestry, or agriculture, or as a focus of application in departments of statistics.In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where several universities have dedicated biostatistics departments, many other top-tier universities integrate biostatistics faculty into statistics or other departments, such as epidemiology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
. Thus, departments carrying the name "biostatistics" may exist under quite different structures. For instance, relatively new biostatistics departments have been founded with a focus on bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
and computational biology
Computational biology
Computational biology involves the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems...
, whereas older departments, typically affiliated with schools of public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
, will have more traditional lines of research involving epidemiological studies and clinical trial
Clinical trial
Clinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...
s as well as bioinformatics. In larger universities where both a statistics and a biostatistics department exist, the degree of integration between the two departments may range from the bare minimum to very close collaboration. In general, the difference between a statistics program and a biostatistics program is twofold: (i) statistics departments will often host theoretical/methodological research which are less common in biostatistics programs and (ii) statistics departments have lines of research that may include biomedical applications but also other areas such as industry (quality control
Quality control
Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...
), business and economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and biological areas other than medicine.
Applications of biostatistics
- Public healthPublic healthPublic health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
, including epidemiologyEpidemiologyEpidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
, health services researchHealth services researchHealth services research is a multidisciplinary scientific field that examines how people get access to health care practitioners and health care services, how much care costs, and what happens to patients as a result of this care...
, nutritionNutritionNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
, and environmental healthEnvironmental healthEnvironmental health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health... - Design and analysis of clinical trialClinical trialClinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...
s in medicineMedicineMedicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness.... - Population geneticsPopulation geneticsPopulation genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...
, and statistical genetics in order to link variation in genotypeGenotypeThe genotype is the genetic makeup of a cell, an organism, or an individual usually with reference to a specific character under consideration...
with a variation in phenotypePhenotypeA phenotype is an organism's observable characteristics or traits: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior...
. This has been used in agriculture to improve crops and farm animals (animal breedingAnimal breedingAnimal breeding is a branch of animal science that addresses the evaluation of the genetic value of domestic livestock...
). In biomedical research, this work can assist in finding candidates for geneGeneA gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
alleles that can cause or influence predisposition to disease in human geneticsHuman geneticsHuman genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics,... - Analysis of genomicsGenomicsGenomics is a discipline in genetics concerning the study of the genomes of organisms. The field includes intensive efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping efforts. The field also includes studies of intragenomic phenomena such as heterosis,...
data, for example from microarrayMicroarrayA microarray is a multiplex lab-on-a-chip. It is a 2D array on a solid substrate that assays large amounts of biological material using high-throughput screening methods.Types of microarrays include:...
or proteomicsProteomicsProteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, as they are the main components of the physiological metabolic pathways of cells. The term "proteomics" was first coined in 1997 to make an analogy with...
experiments. Often concerning diseases or disease stages. - EcologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, ecological forecastingEcological forecastingEcological forecasting uses knowledge of physics, ecology and physiology to predict how ecosystems will change in the future in response to environmental factors such as climate change... - Biological sequence analysisSequence analysisIn bioinformatics, the term sequence analysis refers to the process of subjecting a DNA, RNA or peptide sequence to any of a wide range of analytical methods to understand its features, function, structure, or evolution. Methodologies used include sequence alignment, searches against biological...
- Systems biologySystems biologySystems biology is a term used to describe a number of trends in bioscience research, and a movement which draws on those trends. Proponents describe systems biology as a biology-based inter-disciplinary study field that focuses on complex interactions in biological systems, claiming that it uses...
for gene network inference or pathways analysis.
Statistical methods are beginning to be integrated into medical informatics, public health informatics
Public health informatics
Public Health Informatics has been defined as the systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning...
, bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
and computational biology
Computational biology
Computational biology involves the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems...
.
Biostatistics journals
- BiometricsBiometrics (Journal)Biometrics is a journal that publishes articles on the application of statistics and mathematics to the biological sciences. It is published by the International Biometric Society....
- BiometrikaBiometrika- External links :* . The Internet Archive. 2011....
- BiostatisticsBiostatistics (journal)Biostatistics is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering biostatistics, that is, statistics for biological and medical research. The journals that had cited Biostatistics the most by 2008 were Biometrics, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Biometrika, Statistics in Medicine, and...
- International Journal of Biostatistics, The
- Canadian Journal of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics
- Journal of Biometrics & Biostatistics
- Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics
- Pharmaceutical StatisticsPharmaceutical StatisticsPharmaceutical Statistics is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes papers related to pharmaceutical statistics. It is the official journal of Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry and is published by John Wiley & Sons....
- Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular BiologyStatistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular BiologyStatistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology is an online peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers the application of statistical ideas to problems arising from computational biology. It is published by the Berkeley Electronic Press and is the #5 ranked statistics journal in the...
- Statistics in Biopharmaceutical Research
- Statistics in Medicine
- Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Biostatistics
Related fields
Biostatistics shares several methods with quantitative fields such as:- computational biologyComputational biologyComputational biology involves the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems...
- computer scienceComputer scienceComputer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, - operations researchOperations researchOperations research is an interdisciplinary mathematical science that focuses on the effective use of technology by organizations...
, - psychometricsPsychometricsPsychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits, and educational measurement...
, - statisticsStatisticsStatistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
, - econometricsEconometricsEconometrics has been defined as "the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic data" and described as the branch of economics "that aims to give empirical content to economic relations." More precisely, it is "the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on...
, and - mathematical demographyDemographyDemography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
See also
- Ecological forecastingEcological forecastingEcological forecasting uses knowledge of physics, ecology and physiology to predict how ecosystems will change in the future in response to environmental factors such as climate change...
- Group size measuresGroup size measuresMany animals, including humans, tend to live in groups, herds, flocks, bands, packs, shoals, or colonies of conspecific individuals. The size of these groups, as expressed by the number of participant individuals, is an important aspect of their social environment...
- Machine LearningMachine learningMachine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
- Network BiologyNetwork biologyBiological network is any network that applies to biological systems. A network is any system with sub-units that are linked into a whole, such as species units linked into a whole food web...
- Quantitative parasitologyQuantitative parasitology-Counting parasites:Quantifying parasites in a sample of hosts or comparing measures of infection across two or more samples can be challenging.The parasitic infection of a sample of hosts inherently exhibits a complex pattern that cannot be adequately quantified by a single statistical measure...
- Systems BiologySystems biologySystems biology is a term used to describe a number of trends in bioscience research, and a movement which draws on those trends. Proponents describe systems biology as a biology-based inter-disciplinary study field that focuses on complex interactions in biological systems, claiming that it uses...
External links
- The International Biometric Society
- The Collection of Biostatistics Research Archive
- Guide to Biostatistics (MedPageToday.com)
Journals
- Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Statistics in Medicine
- The International Journal of Biostatistics
- Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics
- Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics
- Biostatistics
- Biometrics
- Biometrika
- Biometrical Journal
- Genetics Selection Evolution