Everything about Biostatistics totally explained
» For the automated recognition of people based on intrinsic physical or behavioural traits, see Biometrics.
Biostatistics (biological statistics) or
biometry is the application of
statistics to a wide range of topics in
biology. It has particular applications to
medicine and to
agriculture.
Note on terminology: Although the terms biostatistics and biometry are sometimes used interchangeably, biometry is more often used of biological or agricultural applications and biostatistics of medical applications. In older sources biometrics is used as a
synonym for biometry, but this term has now been largely usurped by the
information technology industry.
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's work, the conceptual gaps in understanding between
genetics and evolutionary
Darwinism led to vigorous debate between 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
quantitatively 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
Frieden calculator from his department at
Caltech, saying "Well, I'm 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.
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, while 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 trials 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 one 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.
Applications of biostatistics
Public health, including epidemiology, health services research, nutrition, and environmental health
Design and analysis of clinical trials in medicine
Genomics, population genetics, and statistical genetics in populations in order to link variation in genotype with a variation in phenotype. This has been used in agriculture to improve crops and farm animals. In biomedical research, this work can assist in finding candidates for gene alleles that can cause or influence predisposition to disease in human genetics
Ecology
Biological sequence analysis
Statistical methods are beginning to be integrated into medical informatics, public health informatics, and bioinformatics
Related fields
Biostatistics draws quantitative methods from fields such as:
statistics,
operations research,
computer science,
economics, and, generally,
mathematicsFurther Information
Get more info on 'Biostatistics'.
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