ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the reader to the basic methods of epidemiology used to describe patterns of cancer and to test hypotheses about the causes of cancer. Analytical epidemiology, in contrast, uses specific study designs to test hypotheses about exposure and disease relationships, frequently incorporating biomarkers and analyzing disease mechanisms. Dose is an important concept in cancer epidemiology because for many exposures, the greater the dose the greater the biological effect. The main observational study designs used in epidemiology are ecological, cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort. Skin cancer among radiographers, lung cancer among miners, and bladder cancer in aniline dye workers are some of the many additional observations that accumulated and helped develop the field of descriptive cancer epidemiology. The male British doctor’s study is one of the earliest and most famous prospective cohort studies in cancer epidemiology. The most commonly used framework for evaluation of causality in cancer came from the Surgeon General's first report on smoking and health.
